Survey of Homeopathic Practice in Australia

HomeoStats is hosted within the HomeoQuest platform. HomeoQuest is a platform developed by Shilpa Bhouraskar to host other activities, such as the HomeoQuest software and Shilpa’s mentoring program.

Shilpa Bhouraskar has kindly donated the use of HomeoStats to collect research data for the purposes of this survey and for the benefit of the Australian homeopathic community.

If you don’t wish to receive any information from HomeoQuest you can opt - out.

To opt-out of information from HomeoQuest click the unsubscribe button at the bottom of any HomeoQuest email that you receive.

http://apps.homeoquest.com/stats

Yes. When you participate you will receive HomeoQuest newsletters and other email information since the Homeostats is hosted by the HomeoQuest platform.

When you participate in this survey HomeoQuest collects some of your personal information such as your name, address and email address. The information will not be distributed, sold or given to third parties for market research or any other purposes.

If you don’t wish to receive any information from HomeoQuest you can opt - out.

To unsubscribe simply click the unsubscribe button at the bottom of any HomeoQuest email.

No. When you participate in this survey the Aurum Project collects some of your personal information such as your name, address and email address. The information is not distributed, sold or given to third parties. Your details will not be added to any email lists, and you will not be sent any unsolicited information from the Aurum Project.

No

The host you log into to take part in the survey is HomeoQuest. It has the following data security features:

• All data is transferred over connections secured with 2048 bit TLS certificates. This is comparable to security employed by financial institutions for their connections.
• All data is stored on media that is encrypted at rest.
• No individually identifying patient information is stored.

Any information that you provide to the Aurum Project to participate in this survey is held by the Aurum Project and is secure.

Contact Shilpa Bhouraskar if you encounter ANY TECHNICAL difficulties in entering data or using HomeoStats.

Contact Lorena Mattiolo, Aurum Project Secretary if you have ANY OTHER questions about the survey and your participation

When arranging a telephone or internet consultation, ask your patient if he/she is interested in the study. If he/she expresses interest, you then forward the Patient Information Statement. This will enable him/her to make an informed decision whether he/she wants to participate in the study.

At the time of booking the patient in for a consultation, ask your patient to fill in the consent form and send it back to you.  Send this form/or a scanned copy of it into the research team via email to Lorena

Yes, we would welcome your participation. Even if you see only very few patients during the survey period, it’s important that you be part of the survey so that we can obtain a realistic and accurate record of homeopathic practice during the survey period.

We recommend that you record the required information at the end of each practice day. We estimate that the initial setting up for a patient will take you less than 5 minutes. Then to record repeat visits requires only a minute or two of your time.

Some homeopaths might like to have HomeoStats open during their consultation and add the data for the survey at the end of each visit. This can be done if you have an internet connection and keep HomeoStats open.

Yes. You will receive 5 CPD points for two months research participation, and a certificate from the Australian Register of Homœopaths (ARoH). Once the study period is over and all the documentation you need to provide the researchers has been collected, a CPD certificate will be issued and sent to you.

Yes, you do. We want to ensure that practitioners are using the homeopathic approach in their clinic / practice.  To be registered with ARoH you have fulfilled a high level of competency in the discipline of Homeopathy and it is expected that you practise within ARoH’s guidelines.

If you are a practitioner and want to leave the study, you can do so at any time. You do not have to give a reason for your withdrawal from the study. Please let the researchers know that you are withdrawing from the study so that we can make suitable changes regarding further contact about the progress of the study. Please contact Lorena

If you withdraw from the survey during the data collection period,  you will need to delete all of the patient records you have added to your HomeoStats account. This will remove your clinic data from the survey.

You can choose to withdraw from the survey during the data collection period. Once the data collection period is complete any data you have added to the survey is accepted into the survey and cannot be withdrawn.

You don’t need to give a reason for leaving. The research team would find your feedback valuable if you wish to share it. This will help us to understand how we can enhance this type of research experience  for practitioners, If you want to tell us why you are leaving the study, please email Lorena

If a patient withdraws consent for their data to be used in the study, there are three steps to take:

1. Delete the patient record from your HomeoStats account. This removes their data from the survey. This step cannot be reversed. If the patient changes their mind after you have deleted their record, you can add them back into the survey but you will have to re-enter the data again as a new patient. The original data cannot be retrieved. The patient will also need to fill in another patient consent form and this will need to be emailed to  Lorena.
2. Inform the researchers that the patient has withdrawn their consent for the survey - email Lorena with this information.
3. Thank the patient for considering to be part of the survey and reassure them that there are no ramifications for leaving the survey. Inform the patient they have been removed from the survey. If the patient informs you with “why” they withdrew their consent, please ask if you can share this information with the research team, as it will help us design better research projects in the future.

There are currently about three thousand remedies available in the HomeoStats database. However if you can’t find your remedy don’t panic. If it is a ‘polychrest’ or a large remedy it should be definitely on the list. If you can’t find it by scrolling down the list, then try typing its usual abbreviation into the search field. The abbreviations used in HomeoStats are standard abbreviations used in multiple repertories including the Complete Repertory.  If this doesn’t bring up the remedy you are searching for, leave the field blank and save the record.

It is more likely that a rare, small, or new remedy may not appear on the list.

Please email Shilpa and let her know that your remedy is missing from the list. Save your patient record without the remedy being recorded. When it appears on the list, you will be notified and can update the record.

Record the patient data and don’t record a remedy or potency for that visit

Yes. If you like using HomeoStats you can continue to use it, as long as you have internet access. There are no costs involved in doing this. You can discuss your options with Shilpa by email.

Only register for this survey ONCE, even if you have multiple clinics  Please record the data from all your consenting patients in your HomeoStats account, from all your different clinics.

Yes. At this time there is no way to identify the patient you record as human. You can add the relevant information in the fields where it is possible, and then record in the notes section at the bottom of the visit sheet that the patient is an animal, what type of animal.

Yes. if the remedy does not appear in the remedy list, use the NOTES section to record the complex you prescribed at that visit.

Yes. HomeoStats doesn’t allow for complex remedy prescriptions to be recorded. However you can use the NOTES section at the bottom of the visit page to record any complex formulations you prescribe.

Yes. The study and interface was not designed to cover these more complex prescribing practices. However, the research team recognises that many homeopaths may prescribe more than one course of action in their work with patients. Any or all other treatments you prescribe at that visit recorded can be recorded in the NOTES section.

If you wish to record this extra information this will give the research team indications of where future research questions could explore.

Yes. The study was not designed to answer these questions yet. However, if you do share this information with us, it will help us determine the importance of this question and help with future study planning. You can add anything you feel relevant in the NOTES section of the patient visit page.