What Should Students Learn about Complementary and Alternative Medicine?

Abstract

With thousands of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments currently being used in the United States today, it is challenging to design a concise body of CAM content which will fit into already overly full curricula for health care students. The purpose of this article is to outline key principles which 15 National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine-funded education programs found useful when developing CAM course-work and selecting CAM content. Three key guiding principles are discussed: teach foundational CAM competencies to give students a framework for learning about CAM; choose specific content on the basis of evidence, demographics and condition (what conditions are most appropriate for CAM therapies?); and finally, provide students with skills for future learning, including where to find reliable information about CAM and how to search the scientific literature and assess the results of CAM research. Most of the programs developed evidence-based guides to help students find reliable CAM resources. The cumulative experiences of the 15 programs have been compiled, and an annotated table outlining the most highly recommended resources about CAM is presented.

Medical Students' Knowledge, Perceptions, and Interest in Complementary and Alternative Medicine

“…To tackle this, a concise set of high-quality CAM content based on a properly organized framework addressed by NCCAM can be used. 16 Both lectures and direct shadowing appear to be the favorable methods for students. In one of the U.S. institutions, a 3-week elective CAM rotation that integrated rotation and lectures has improved students' positive attitudes and their knowledge.…”

Medical Students Knowledge and Perception Regarding Complementary and Alternative Medicine

“…Study participants seems very enthusiastic about CAM, however their knowledge is not appropriate regarding the use. CAM learning method is also assessed in publish articles [21]. Literature reports medical student's attitude and knowledge similar to the observation of this study [22].…”

CAM and Medical Education

“…spells out the challenges of choosing among diverse topics and states the importance of dividing curricular content into foundational skills and specific content areas. 12 Specifically, the authors of this review note that foundational skills give students prerequisite understanding of basics, such as learning terminology and communication skills, to help such students move on to learning about more specific concepts in CAM. The reviewers…”