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Development of a Complementary and Alternative Medicine Programme at an Academic Medical Centre

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Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine

Abstract

With the increasing use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the US, academic medical centres need to provide evidence-based CAM information and services. To develop a CAM programme involving practice, education and research at our tertiary-care academic medical centre, we initiated a four-pronged approach: (i) creation of an interdisciplinary CAM interest group, (ii) a survey of CAM use among 1514 patients seen at our institution, (iii) a survey of knowledge and attitudes toward CAM among 660 physicians in our institution’s Department of Internal Medicine and (iv) a pilot study of CAM consultations provided at no cost to 102 patients. Bringing together individuals from multiple disciplines across our institution resulted in numerous alliances and collaborations. We documented that many of our internists thought that addressing CAM therapies would improve patient satisfaction and that our patients used CAM therapies and found CAM consultations helpful. Our present programme is devoted to practice (a CAM consultation service has been implemented), education (medical school lectures and a postgraduate-level curriculum in CAM medicine have been developed) and research (there are several ongoing clinical trials).

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Acknowledgements

This paper was presented at the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) 27th Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, USA, May 12–15, 2004.

No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this article. The authors have no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55905, USA

    Dietlind L. Wahner-Roedler, Peter L. Elkin, Ann Vincent, Laura L. Loehrer & Brent A. Bauer

  2. Pharmacy Services, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA

    Tiffani D. Schilling

Authors
  1. Dietlind L. Wahner-Roedler
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  2. Peter L. Elkin
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  3. Ann Vincent
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  4. Laura L. Loehrer
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  5. Tiffani D. Schilling
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  6. Brent A. Bauer
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Correspondence to Dietlind L. Wahner-Roedler.

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Wahner-Roedler, D.L., Elkin, P.L., Vincent, A. et al. Development of a Complementary and Alternative Medicine Programme at an Academic Medical Centre. Evid-Based-Integrative-Med 2, 9–12 (2005). https://doi.org/10.2165/01197065-200502010-00003

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/01197065-200502010-00003

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