The Challenges of Clinical Researches in Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM)

BACKGROUND Traditional medicine is one of the medical schools, which has been considered in recent years. Achieving reliable and valid research in ITM is very important to introduce this line of medicine into the healthcare organizations. The aim of this study was to investigate clinical research issues in ITM. METHODS This study is a qualitative research. We formed an expert panel and, after identifying the content, the study findings were divided into two main categories. RESULTS Challenges of clinical research studies are divided into two major categories in ITM, the problems of clinical trial processes and the difficulties in publishing research results. Lack of standard data collection instruments and questionnaires, limited sample size, lack of study models designed for distemperament treatment, unawareness, and non-compliance of ethics committees in facilities approved by WHO for clinical research of TM, and even rigidity beyond conventional medicine studies are some of the previously mentioned issues. Some difficulties in the publication of research results include lack of specialized journals especially at high academic levels, lack of familiarity with editorial board and difficulty in publishing the results of studies that are designed with combined products. A few proposals for these problems include: Conducting codification questionnaire workshops (approved by a thesis assistant with a subject of research tools)Introducing appropriate methods of multi-intervention research in ITMCreating the database of similarly performed research available for researchersDesigning multicenter researchCollaborations between academic centersLinking two or more thesis assistants or research projects in the form of a joint proposal with larger sample sizesEstablishing joint meeting between researchers, the heads of TM research centers and ethics committeesDedicated TM journal. CONCLUSION Considering a history of several thousand years, the Iranian traditional medicine is a great venue for students. To establish and distribute the information from this research field, collaboration between researchers and policy makers are essential to minimize challenges.