Facilitator:
Why Some Health Care Providers attitude are opposed to Complimentary and Alternative Medicine
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) refer to medical practices and products that are not standardized in the medical field. Mainly, most medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy and allied professionals in health like physical therapists and nurses often practice standard medical care. However, medical practices considered complementary and alternative often change constantly as different treatments are moved into the mainstream after undergoing testing and validity (Bausell, 2007). The National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine classifies the different therapies into groups. These include mind-body medicine, energy medicine, whole medical systems, manipulative and body-based practices, and biologically based practices.
Although CAM is gaining momentum and becoming popular even with the doctors, there are criticisms from some professionals who do not support the practice. These approaches are constantly criticizes and ethical and legal grounds because they are characterized with unauthentic procedures. Initially, there is the argument that the distinctions between therapies in CAM are not clear-cut and that some of the systems use techniques from more than one category. Similarly, many of the professional conventional doctors today have not received training about CAM therapies. Such doctors often do not feel comfortable to make recommendations that address questions concerning CAM treatments. CAM practices are similarly unlike conventional medicine that value therapies that have undergone research and tested to be safe and effective through demonstrations. Furthermore, most of the CAM therapies are not supported by scientific evidence to prove their validity (Bausell, 2007). This lack of research in CAM is because of the high costs of operation. Doctors are also conservative about CAM because practitioners in the field often advise their patients to forgo their treatments from conventional doctors discrediting their effectiveness. CAM have also faced legal and ethical concerns that relates medical fraud on grounds that the therapies are not authentic, legitimate and standardized and that they are not ‘alternative’ as the name claimed (Bausell, 2007).
Reference
Bausell, R. B. (2007). Snake Oil Science: The Truth about Complementary and
Alternative Medicine. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531368-0.
