Alternative medicine

Alternative medicine broadly describes methods and practices used in place of, or in addition to, conventional medical treatments. The precise scope of alternative medicine is a matter of some debate and depends to a great extent on the definition of "conventional medicine." Positions on the distinction between the two include those who reject the safety and efficacy of the other, and a number of positions in between.

Contemporary use of alternative medicine

In the US and UK

A survey (Barnes et al 2004) released in May 2004 by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health in the United States, found that in 2002, 36% of Americans used some form of alternative therapy in the past 12 months — a category that included yoga, meditation, herbal treatments and the Atkins diet. If prayer was counted as an alternative therapy, the figure rose to 62.1%.

Related Topics:
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine - National Institutes of Health - Atkins diet - Prayer

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Another study by Astin et al (1998) suggests a similar figure of 40%.

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A British telephone survey by the BBC of 1209 adults in 1998 shows that around 20% of adults in Britain had used alternative medicine in the past 12 months (Ernst & White 1999)

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Around the world

Edzard Ernst wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia that "about half the general population in developed countries use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)" (Ernst 2003),

Related Topics:
Edzard Ernst - Medical Journal of Australia

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Rising use of alternative medicine

Eisenburg et al carried out a study in 1998 which showed that use of alternative medicine had risen from 33.8% in 1990 to 42.1% in 1997.

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Research in the UK about this is lacking. However, the report by the House of Lords mentioned above suggests that there is such a critical mass of acendotal information given by reliable organisations such as the NHS and Department of Health that this fact is irrefutable.

Related Topics:
NHS - Department of Health

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Medical education

Increasing numbers of medical colleges have begun offering courses in alternative medicine. For example, the University of Arizona College of Medicine offers a program in Integrative Medicine under the leadership of Dr. Andrew Weil which trains physicians in various branches of alternative medicine which "neither rejects conventional medicine, nor embraces alternative practices uncritically." http://www.ahsc.arizona.edu/opa/horizons/1997/integrate.htm In three separate research surveys that surveyed the 125 medical schools offering a MD degree, the 19 medical schools offering a DO degree, and 585 schools of nursing in the United States: 60 percent of U.S. medical schools offering a MD degree teach CAM, 95% of Osteopathic medical school teach CAM, and 84.8% of US schools of nursing teach CAM. (Wetzel et al 1998, Saxon et al 2004, Fenton & Morris 2003)

Related Topics:
University of Arizona - Integrative Medicine - Dr. Andrew Weil

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In the UK, no medical schools offer courses that teach the clinical practise of alternative medicine. However, alternative medicine is taught in several schools as part of the curriculum. Teaching is based mostly on theory and understanding alternative medicine, with emphasis on being able to communicate with alternative medicine specialists. To obtain competence in practising clinical alternative medicine, qualifications must be obtained from individual medical societies. The student must have graduated and be a qualified doctor. The British Medical Acupuncture Society, which offers medical acupuncture certificates to doctors, is one such example.

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