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Integrating Al-Hijamah into the Healthcare System in Saudi Arabia: Hospital Staff’s Perception, Possible Use, and Acceptability

Introduction: Al-Hijamah must be integrated into the conventional healthcare system in Saudi Arabia to respond to the unmet needs in modern medicine. This quantitative, cross-sectional study explores hospital staff’s perception, possible use, and acceptability of Al-Hijamah as an alternative medicine for their patients. Materials and Methods: 359 physicians and nurses were randomly selected as respondents across ten government hospitals in Eastern Region. The awareness and acceptability of Al-Hijamah were determined using proportion estimation. In contrast, logistic regression was used in determining the associations between awareness of Al-Hijamah and the acceptability of its integration into conventional healthcare services. Results: The majority (75%) of the hospital staff exhibited a high level of knowledge regarding Al-Hijamah and a high level of acceptance (72%) on incorporating Al-Hijamah into their practice. Hospital staff with a high level of knowledge were 3.5 times more likely to incorporate Al-Hijamah in their practice (p < 0.001). Moreover, all 13 integration concepts have a positive acceptance rate (50% and above), showing a high degree of acceptance among hospital staff. Conclusion: This study paves the way for the modification of current policies in the practice of complementary and alternative medicine in Saudi Arabia and suggests areas where the present healthcare system may be failing to meet patients’ holistic care needs.