Introduction: Currently, 16 clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for traditional medicine (TM) are available in Korea. This survey aimed to assess perceptions on the development of CPGs for TM and select the priority diseases and symptoms for which guidelines should be developed for Korean medical doctors (KMDs) who have a license for treating patients with TM, including acupuncture and herbal medicine.

Methods: A survey was conducted with a questionnaire consisting of 20 items classified into three categories (perceptions on CPGs, priority diseases and symptoms for CPG development and demographic characteristics of respondents). A total of 14,485 KMDs from the Association of Korean Medicine were invited to participate in the survey by e-mail.

Results: Of the 1226 respondents, more than half (685, 56%) thought that the development of CPGs-TM is essential. Regarding the purpose of the CPGs, 650 (53%) answered that the most important purpose was the provision of insurance benefits and standards for decision making. The majority of respondents thought the CPGs would provide or contribute to health care standards for TM treatments. The common cold and sprains were identified as the highest recommended symptoms for CPG development.

Conclusions: Our data suggest a need to develop CPGs for TM to provide health care standards for TM. However, we cannot completely discount the possibility that biased selection of subjects and the low response rate limit the interpretations of the study results.