The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    A parent’s spiritual needs when facing their child?s death

    A survey of 56 parents whose children had died in a pediatric intensive care unit after withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies reveals that most (73%) relied on their spirituality to guide end-of-life decision-making, find meaning of their loss, and sustain them emotionally.

    When asked what was most helpful to them and what advice they would offer to others at the end of life, these parents listed the following.

    • Prayer
    • Faith
    • Access to and care from clergy
    • Belief in the transcendent quality of the parent-child relationship that endures beyond death

    Implicitly spiritual/religious themes identified by the parents included

    • Insight and wisdom
    • Reliance on values
    • Virtues such as hope, trust, and love

    Despite the dominance of technology, most parents experience their child’s end of life as a spiritual journey. The results presented here are not unique. In another survey, 62% of adults reportedly used CAM in the previous year – when CAM included prayer specifically for health reasons.

    This blog has discussed religious and spirituality as important complementary interventions before. In fact, a link on the right sidebar facilitates access to these topics. For healthcare professionals these include obtaining a spiritual history, and the role of a physician (or healthcare provider) in providing spiritual care.

    9/5/06 15:43 JR

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