During this one-hour focus session, Drs. Haramati and Lumpkin discussed the rationale for a curricular initiative in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), with specific emphasis on the critical role of basic science. Examples were provided for how CAM can be seamlessly integrated into several required basic science courses, and, in the process, how several other educational objectives (related to patient-doctor communication, patient-centered care, as well as others) can be achieved. Background According to a 1998 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, more than 42 percent of Americans used a complementary or alternative medical (CAM) therapy in 1997. In addition, Americans spent more than $27 billion on these therapies that year, exceeding out-of-pocket spending for all U.S. hospitalizations. Yet, despite the dramatic increase in the public’s use of alternative therapies, less than 40 percent of those therapies used were disclosed to physicians (JAMA 280: 1569-1575, 1998). Many medical leaders have called for physicians to become more knowledgeable about alternative medicine and urge them to increase their understanding of the possible benefits, risks and limitations of these approaches so that they can advise their patients appropriately. Others have stressed the need to incorporate the teaching of CAM into the curricula of medical schools and residency programs. In July 2001, Georgetown University School of Medicine was awarded a
five-year R25 education grant from the NIH to support a new educational
initiative aimed at incorporating complementary and alternative medicine
(CAM), in an evidence-based manner, into the medical school curriculum.
The purpose of the initiative is not to train practitioners of CAM, but
rather to increase students’ knowledge of and awareness about advances
in CAM so that they will understand the role of CAM in healthcare and be
capable of discussing these issues with their patients. Dr. Aviad
Haramati and Dr. Michael Lumpkin, both physiologists, are principal investigator
and co-investigator, respectively, of the grant and are leading a group
of educators, researchers and practitioners in this initiative at Georgetown.
The unique approach they are implementing is to introduce CAM material
in the required basic science courses, applying scientific rigor to determining
what should and should not be presented. For example, a lecture on
the “anatomy of acupuncture” has been incorporated into the course
in Gross Anatomy, and a second lecture on “mechanisms of pain relief
by acupuncture and other CAM approaches” has been included in the Neurosciences
course as part of the unit on pain perception and its neural pathways.
Biofeedback is introduced in a didactic and experiential session in the
Human Physiology course, and in the Human Endocrinology course, following
the didactic presentation on the “physiology of stress,” there is
an experiential component related to the relaxation response and stress-reduction
techniques.
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