To identify communication patterns of Registered Nurses regarding patients' use of complementary therapies.
A cross-sectional online survey conducted in 2017 recruited Australian Registered Nurses working in any area of nursing.
Responses of 614 Registered Nurses were analysed. Patient-initiated discussion of complementary therapies were common for 77% of nurses; nurse-initiated discussions were perceived by 73% (sometimes/almost always/always). Nurses' personal use of complementary therapies predicted discussion with patients and education-based, oncology, or aged care/rehabilitation nurses were most likely to initiate dialogue. Many (55%) did not 'recommend' a particular therapy, although 12% 'almost always/always' did so. Four out of five nurses (84%) documented patients' use and communicated with medical/nursing colleagues about this use. Conversely, 61% 'never' or 'almost never' communicated with a complementary therapy practitioner.
Nurses working in Australia often discuss complementary therapies, however they rarely specifically recommend their use. Their workplace environment and clinical context influenced nurses' willingness to communicate about complementary therapy use. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS EVIDENCE: suggests the need for policy development to promote communication between mainstream healthcare providers and complementary therapy practitioners to support the delivery of safe, high quality patient care.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
2
4%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences
1
2%
Other
2
4%
Unknown
26
50%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 January 2026.
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#21,003,232
of 34,040,673 outputs
Outputs from Patient Education & Counseling
#3,001
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Outputs of similar age
#209,438
of 375,768 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Patient Education & Counseling
#27
of 64 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,040,673 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 37th percentile – i.e., 37% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,771 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.6. This one is in the 36th percentile – i.e., 36% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 64 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 57% of its contemporaries.
