TY - JOUR
T1 - Complementary and alternative medicine in mainstream public health
T2 - A role for research in fostering integration
AU - Giordano, James
AU - Garcia, Mary K.
AU - Boatwright, Douglas
AU - Klein, Kim
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2003/6
Y1 - 2003/6
N2 - In light of the increased utilization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in recent years, there is an increased possibility that CAM approaches could prove to be important factors in public health, particularly if used within an integrative framework together with mainstream medicine. There exists a defined need for research to explore the integration of conventional health care and CAM approaches, as well as define mechanisms of CAM-based therapies to facilitate such integration. Essential to these goals is the accumulation of a database derived from outcomes-based clinical and basic science investigations. We posit that that CAM clinicians need to be more thoroughly trained as researchers, skilled in developing and recording results of pragmatic studies that could provide credible evidence for the use of CAM in the public sector health care. It is proposed that this may be best achieved through a three-tiered system in which (1) clinician-scientists of both mainstream and alternative disciplines recognize the value of research designed to foster such integration; (2) educational and health care institutions must develop academic and clinical training programs that examine and delineate each disciplines' respective strengths and weaknesses; and (3) such programs are attractive to, and receive continued extramural subsidy. In the broadest sense, such a paradigmatic approach to CAM integration could create a common basis for scientific dialogue, encourage exchanges between medical communities, and establish policies for the development of a true multidisciplinary health care cooperative that is consistent with the current public health model.
AB - In light of the increased utilization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in recent years, there is an increased possibility that CAM approaches could prove to be important factors in public health, particularly if used within an integrative framework together with mainstream medicine. There exists a defined need for research to explore the integration of conventional health care and CAM approaches, as well as define mechanisms of CAM-based therapies to facilitate such integration. Essential to these goals is the accumulation of a database derived from outcomes-based clinical and basic science investigations. We posit that that CAM clinicians need to be more thoroughly trained as researchers, skilled in developing and recording results of pragmatic studies that could provide credible evidence for the use of CAM in the public sector health care. It is proposed that this may be best achieved through a three-tiered system in which (1) clinician-scientists of both mainstream and alternative disciplines recognize the value of research designed to foster such integration; (2) educational and health care institutions must develop academic and clinical training programs that examine and delineate each disciplines' respective strengths and weaknesses; and (3) such programs are attractive to, and receive continued extramural subsidy. In the broadest sense, such a paradigmatic approach to CAM integration could create a common basis for scientific dialogue, encourage exchanges between medical communities, and establish policies for the development of a true multidisciplinary health care cooperative that is consistent with the current public health model.
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U2 - 10.1089/107555303765551660
DO - 10.1089/107555303765551660
M3 - Article
C2 - 12816632
AN - SCOPUS:0037674848
SN - 1075-5535
VL - 9
SP - 441
EP - 445
JO - Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
JF - Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
IS - 3
ER -