CAM Research

ANSWERS

Introduction
The public’s concern about the safety of health care is growing, which applies to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and conventional treatment. A group of academic and clinical CAM researchers met in 2009 to discuss the constraints and priorities of CAM safety research. This group reports on their discussions and collaborates with practitioners worldwide to improve patient safety for CAM practices and products.

Discussion
The study of healthcare safety presents difficulties, including defining terms where a recent WHO initiative is significant. The apparent low incidence of harmful incidents; the limited regulatory framework for CAM practice, including the omission of CAM interventions from most mainstream adverse event reporting schemes; the widespread perception of CAM as natural and safe; the complexity of CAM therapies; interactions between CAM and conventional care; professional complacency; and the particular challenges unique to specific CAM therapies such as The researchers agreed that active surveillance, or measuring actual harm from CAM, should be the priority for CAM safety research. The second priority is research into practitioners’ beliefs and attitudes and what influences those attitudes; the final research area focuses on the procedures used to ensure safe practice and their effectiveness.

Conclusions
International collaboration among field experts, including practitioners and researchers, maybe the most effective way to achieve the required levels of expertise.

QUESTION

CAM Research

1. Discuss, giving examples, how infectious diseases can spread worldwide in a rapid manner and relate the role of climate and the global spread of infectious diseases.
2. What do you believe to be the major challenges in CAM use and CAM research? What would you do or suggest to addressing such challenges?