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

    Teaching CAM in allopathic and osteopathic medical schools

    Yes, they teach CAM at osteopathic and allopathic medical schools.

    This survey concludes we need less advocacy and more reliance on evidence-based medicine (ie, combining research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values).

    CAM is usually taught in the first 2 years of medical school and involves fewer than 20 contact hours of instruction.

    The topics most often taught.

    • Acupuncture (68%)
    • Herbs and botanicals (68%)
    • Spirituality (56%)
    • Dietary therapy (52%)
    • Homeopathy (48%)

    Most (72%) CAM instructors were also practitioners of CAM modes of therapy. Few (12%) of the instructors taught CAM from an evidence-based perspective.

    The question is, for some of these topics (homeopathy, spirituality) would there be enough clinical trials to fill the curriculum? Or should there be?

    2/10/07 08:43 JR

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