Pediatric Integrative Medicine in Academia: Stanford Children’s Experience

Abstract

Pediatric integrative medicine is an emerging field which, to date, has not been described in detail in academic medical centers in the United States. Early research of pediatric integrative medicine modalities shows promise for the treatment of common pediatric conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, acute and chronic pain, headache, and allergy, among others. In light of the growing prevalence of pediatric illnesses and patient complexity, it is crucial to emphasize the patient’s overall well-being. As academic centers around the world start to develop pediatric integrative medicine programs, the aim of this manuscript is to briefly highlight evidence of effective integrative treatments in pediatric subspecialties, to describe the establishment of our integrative medicine program, to summarize its early efforts, and to discuss potential barriers and keys to success.

Do patients of integrative anthroposophic pediatric inpatient departments differ? Comparative analysis to all pediatric inpatients in Germany considering demographic and clinical characteristics

“…Over the last 20 years, the term “Integrative medicine” has frequently been used in different healthcare sectors and systems to describe health services models that make “use of all appropriate therapeutic and lifestyle approaches, healthcare professionals and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing” for the patient [1]. As a patient-centered, evidence-based, therapeutic paradigm it combines conventional and complementary approaches to foster patient health and addresses biological, psychosocial, spiritual, and environmental aspects of patients’ wellbeing [2]. Health care professionals of integrative medicine vary depending on the country’s health care system and its national and local regulations but commonly include physicians and non-medical therapists with are “succinct, explicit, and transparent for the integration and subsequent collaboration when treating patients” [3].…”

“…The clinical use of integrative approaches in pediatrics has increased in the past two decades [2, 4, 6, 13–21]. Integrative medicine is used in children in the US [15, 17, 22–25], Canada [26] and in Europe [4, 6–9, 27, 28].…”

Comparative analysis of resource utilization in integrative anthroposophic and all German pediatric inpatient departments

“…It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship between practitioner and patient, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapies" [1]. It considers biological, psychological, social, spiritual, and environmental aspects of health [2]. It is not "a discipline, a group of disorders, or a method of treatment, but an approach, a way of thinking", it "encourages clinicians and researchers to consider more than one system at a time" and "provides a framework for understanding complex and dynamic challenges" of the human organism [3].…”

“…During the last 20 years, the implementation of integrative approaches for children has grown [2,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] worldwide: IM is used in pediatrics in the USA [9,11,[16][17][18][19], in Canada [20] and in Europe [5,8,[21][22][23][24][25] in private practices, outpatient-and inpatient-departments [23]. Current literature suggests that 30-50% of parents of children with acute or chronic diseases use IM for their children [26][27][28][29], while it seems to be used more frequently for children with chronic diseases in the US [16,[30][31][32][33][34][35].…”

“…IM's use for children is associated with disease severity and whether parents use IM themselves [7,36]. IM is established in academic pediatrics and is acknowledged as an important subspecialty to address children's needs [2].…”