Joanna Cosgrove06.06.11
Although patients continue to integrate dietary supplements and other alternative treatments into their daily health regimens, many physicians are still reluctant to enter into conversations about some forms of complementary medicine, citing conflicting research or lack of data. In an effort to improve physicians’ understanding about the realm of treatments that fall under the heading of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently launched a web resource consisting of evidence-based information geared toward healthcare providers.
The new online resource from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), part of NIH, is designed to give healthcare providers easy access to a broad spectrum of information related to CAM. It is tailored to arm all healthcare providers—physicians, nurses and nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and CAM providers—with the tools necessary to learn about the various CAM practices and products and be better able to discuss the safety and effectiveness of CAM with their patients.
“NCCAM is charged to study and provide evidence-based information on the safety and efficacy of CAM health practices that are readily available and already used by a great number of people,” said Josephine Briggs, MD, director of NCCAM. “As a physician, I understand the need to have easily accessible and accurate information on all health practices. This web resource is a way for NCCAM to share this valuable information with all providers.”
Americans spend nearly $34 billion out-of-pocket on CAM products and practices annually. According to NCCAM surveys, nearly 40% of American adults and 12% of American children use some form of CAM. Other surveys show that patients do not regularly discuss these practices with their healthcare providers. In fact, a recent study of Americans aged 50 and older found that overall two-thirds of respondents had not discussed CAM with their healthcare provider.
The NCCAM website is packed with resources and includes information on the safety and efficacy of a range of common health practices that lie outside mainstream medicine—e.g., natural products, such as dietary supplements, herbs and probiotics, as well as mind-body practices such as meditation, chiropractic, acupuncture and massage. Physicians can scroll through an alphabetized list of popular CAM topics, find out about recent and ongoing research and clinical trials, and even learn about available research grants.
This resource was developed based on a series of NCCAM-sponsored focus groups where healthcare providers identified the need for an evidence-based, one-stop destination to help answer their patients’ questions on CAM. With this need in mind, NCCAM set out to develop a resource that provided reliable, objective and evidenced-based information on CAM, including: links to relevant clinical practice guidelines, safety and effectiveness information, links to systematic reviews, summaries of research studies, scientific literature searches, programs for continuing education credit and patient fact sheets.
The website also includes NCCAM’s "Time to Talk" tool kit on communicating about CAM. NCCAM’s Time to Talk campaign encourages patients to tell their providers about CAM use and providers to ask about it by offering tools and resources—such as wallet cards, posters and tip sheets—all of which are available for free at nccam.nih.gov/timetotalk/.
To explore the NCCAM website, click this link.
The new online resource from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), part of NIH, is designed to give healthcare providers easy access to a broad spectrum of information related to CAM. It is tailored to arm all healthcare providers—physicians, nurses and nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and CAM providers—with the tools necessary to learn about the various CAM practices and products and be better able to discuss the safety and effectiveness of CAM with their patients.
“NCCAM is charged to study and provide evidence-based information on the safety and efficacy of CAM health practices that are readily available and already used by a great number of people,” said Josephine Briggs, MD, director of NCCAM. “As a physician, I understand the need to have easily accessible and accurate information on all health practices. This web resource is a way for NCCAM to share this valuable information with all providers.”
Americans spend nearly $34 billion out-of-pocket on CAM products and practices annually. According to NCCAM surveys, nearly 40% of American adults and 12% of American children use some form of CAM. Other surveys show that patients do not regularly discuss these practices with their healthcare providers. In fact, a recent study of Americans aged 50 and older found that overall two-thirds of respondents had not discussed CAM with their healthcare provider.
The NCCAM website is packed with resources and includes information on the safety and efficacy of a range of common health practices that lie outside mainstream medicine—e.g., natural products, such as dietary supplements, herbs and probiotics, as well as mind-body practices such as meditation, chiropractic, acupuncture and massage. Physicians can scroll through an alphabetized list of popular CAM topics, find out about recent and ongoing research and clinical trials, and even learn about available research grants.
This resource was developed based on a series of NCCAM-sponsored focus groups where healthcare providers identified the need for an evidence-based, one-stop destination to help answer their patients’ questions on CAM. With this need in mind, NCCAM set out to develop a resource that provided reliable, objective and evidenced-based information on CAM, including: links to relevant clinical practice guidelines, safety and effectiveness information, links to systematic reviews, summaries of research studies, scientific literature searches, programs for continuing education credit and patient fact sheets.
The website also includes NCCAM’s "Time to Talk" tool kit on communicating about CAM. NCCAM’s Time to Talk campaign encourages patients to tell their providers about CAM use and providers to ask about it by offering tools and resources—such as wallet cards, posters and tip sheets—all of which are available for free at nccam.nih.gov/timetotalk/.
To explore the NCCAM website, click this link.