Working complementary therapies into mainstream health care. 2006

Mary Laurenson
Health and Social Care, University of Hull.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is speculative and practitioners and policy makers question its validity in the care of people within the NHS. However, increasing numbers of people are using private CAM therapists to address their health needs. This has consequences in terms of cost to the patient, of using CAM instead of traditional health care, and for policy makers and educators raises questions of competency, regulation and research to validate its efficacy. This article provides a personal account of a nurse educator's discovery of homeopathy as a complementary therapy, its impact upon health status, training undertaken and action taken as a result. It outlines the potential use of CAM as a holistic approach that embraces the interprofessional framework and suggests CAM practitioner inclusion within mainstream healthcare provision. The article emphasizes the need for further quantitative and qualitative research of CAM treatment.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000529 Complementary Therapies Therapeutic practices which are not currently considered an integral part of conventional allopathic medical practice. They may lack biomedical explanations but as they become better researched some (PHYSICAL THERAPY MODALITIES; DIET; ACUPUNCTURE) become widely accepted whereas others (humors, radium therapy) quietly fade away, yet are important historical footnotes. Therapies are termed as Complementary when used in addition to conventional treatments and as Alternative when used instead of conventional treatment. Alternative Medicine,Complementary Medicine,Medicine, Alternative,Medicine, Complementary,Alternative Therapies,Therapy, Alternative,Therapy, Complementary,Therapies, Alternative,Therapies, Complementary
D001291 Attitude of Health Personnel Attitudes of personnel toward their patients, other professionals, toward the medical care system, etc. Staff Attitude,Attitude, Staff,Attitudes, Staff,Health Personnel Attitude,Health Personnel Attitudes,Staff Attitudes
D019317 Evidence-Based Medicine An approach of practicing medicine with the goal to improve and evaluate patient care. It requires the judicious integration of best research evidence with the patient's values to make decisions about medical care. This method is to help physicians make proper diagnosis, devise best testing plan, choose best treatment and methods of disease prevention, as well as develop guidelines for large groups of patients with the same disease. (from JAMA 296 (9), 2006) Medicine, Evidence-Based,Evidence Based Medicine,Medicine, Evidence Based

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