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Complementary and alternative medicine is defined by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) as a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine (NCCAM, 2003). The NCCAM branch of the NIH was established in 1998, to ensure high-quality scientific research into CAM practices, conduct and support basic and clinical research on CAM modalities, and provide information about CAM to health care providers and consumers (NCCAM, 2003; Skidmore-Roth, 2001).
Complementary and alternative therapies are not the same according to NCCAM (2003). Complementary medicine is used together with conventional medicine. Conventional medicine is defined by NCCAM as medicine practiced by holders of MD (medical doctor) and DO (doctor of osteopathy) degrees and by allied health professionals, such as nurse practitioners or advanced practice nurses, registered nurses, physical therapists, and psychologists (NCCAM, 2003). Allopathy; mainstream, Western, orthodox, and regular medicine; and biomedicine are alternative terms for conventional medicine. Some conventional practitioners are also practitioners of CAM. An example of a complementary therapy is the use of aromatherapy to help lessen a client's discomfort following surgery.
Alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine (NCCAM, 2003). An example of an alternative therapy is the use of a special diet to treat cancer instead of the more conventional treatments for cancer such as surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy.
Integrative medicine combines mainstream medical therapies and CAM therapies for which there is some high-quality evidence of safety and effectiveness (NCCAM, 2003). Nurses often combine therapies when they use distraction, massage, relaxation techniques, and touch in addition to administering analgesics for postoperative pain control for clients following surgery.
The five major categories or domains of CAM therapies determined by the NCCAM (2003) are described in Table 1.
Why Do People Choose Alternative Therapies?
Several factors have contributed to the increasing interest in CAM modalities. Lazar and O'Connor (1997) cite hope for gaining therapeutic benefit and high personal involvement in decision making as the two main reasons why clients choose CAM therapies. See Table 2 for...