CAM and the Medical Community
Alternative, complementary, and integrative healing are all part of a well debated but poorly researched area of medicine. Doctors of the conventional American and European medical communities have been long prone to dismiss unconventional healing methods such as acupuncture, herbal supplements, and massage therapy as ineffective, or outright crackpot methods of treating illness. The view of the medical community, however, seems to have little impact of the growing popularity of CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) among patients. An increasing number of people in the United States and Europe have been turning to these treatments in addition to or instead of traditional Western medicine. The sheer popularity of CAM has forced the medical community to better examine the acceptance of CAM in medicine.
CAM encompasses a wide range of healing methods from acupuncture to massage therapy to herbal remedies such as St. Johnís Wort and Echinacea. Many of these remedies have been around for centuries. In the case of Acupuncture, there have been regulations on acupuncture in China and Japan for years. However, since many of these procedures have not been proven ìscientificallyî, western medicine had largely rejected the remedies as being effective forms of treatment. One professor of medicine at the Rabin Medical Center likened CAM to beliefs in magic and superstition that medicine relied on before modern scientific advances. "The deep model of Alternative medicine is anthropocentric magic. The explanations of the practitioners of alternate medicine are giving patients a set of magical rules to control the physical world, rules that have the human as the fulcrum."(1). In this article, he argues that alternative medicine is fraudulent, impossible to prove in clinical trials, and therefore, unacceptable even on the fringes of modern medicine.
Arguments to the contrary have grown increasingly louder as acupuncture, holistic therapies, and herbal remedies grow popular in the western markets. Most of these remedies and treatments have been around for centuries, so there must arguably be some healing properties to these treatments. People turn to CAM treatments when western medicine fails them. CAM provides people with more options and gives them hope for remedy. One argument for the acceptance of CAM is the Psychological impact it has on its patients. Herbal treatments and acupuncture give people hope for alleviation of their symptoms. One example of this can be seen at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. They provide their cancer patients acupuncture, massage therapy, yoga, and other CAM services in addition to their chemotherapy treatments.
At Clarke I currently teach in a self contained classroom of four year old children that are deaf and hard of hearing who are learning to listen and speak. I assist under the direction of the classroom teacher in planning, preparing and executing lessons in a listening and spoken language approach. I have the opportunity to record, transcribe and analyze language samples on a daily basis. In addition, I facilitate the child's communication in the classroom and ensure carryover of activities between the classroom and individual speech therapy sessions. Every week I contribute and participate in meetings with the educational team to discuss each child's progress using Cottage Acquisition Scales of Speech, Language and Listening (CASSLLS).
There are no current treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers are constantly looking for new and advanced treatments to alter the course. Any breakthrough in progress will ensure the improvement of the quality of life of people with dementia.
According to Sandra Augustyn Lawton in Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Teens, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) can be defined as “a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine” (Lawton, 2007, p.3). Although complementary and alternative medicines are often interpreted as the same thing, complementary methods are used in coordination with conventional methods and alternative methods are used in place of conventional methods of medicine (Lawton, 2007, p.3). Another method used is integrative medicine, which uses conventional medicine and CAM together because there is proven scientific evidence to support that the treatment plan is safe and effective (Lawton, 2007, p.3). Complementary and alternative medicines are used throughout the world in many different countries, some more specifically than others.
For many centuries, humanity has been on an eternal quest for cures and treatments for many chronic conditions. At the present time, conventional medicine is mostly performed by doctors and other health care professionals, with the extensive use of pharmaceutical drugs, surgery or radiation treatments for disease treatment. Conversely, even though not as popular, complementary and alternative medicine and treatment options are slowly gaining popularity and becoming an addition to traditional medicine.
These alternative treatments include acupuncture, meditation, and therapy among many others.There is growing evidence that the desire for alternative medicine is expanding because people undergoing procedures in today’s health care system has had unmet needs as well as feelings of being uncared for (Acari & Flanagan, 2015). Alternative medicine is able to provide patients with treatments that provide relief for hard to cure problems such as back pain, neck pain, and arthritis. Many of these alternative treatments have been shown to be successful for various problems. The use of complimentary and alternative medicine as well as the open ended communication that holistic nursing provides is gaining popularity from patients who are fed up with traditional care and hospital
Healthcare is a dynamic, ever-changing environment. The complex circumstances around daily conversations that encompass life-threatening decisions are critical. In order to deliver high quality care, individuals must be able to communicate effectively. In the perfect world of communication, everyone receives the exact same information and is able to respond the exact same way. Unfortunately, communication breakdown is a prevalent issue among hospitals. On any given day of the hospital arena, multiple interactions take place. Some of the dialogue is planned, and some is not. While hospital departments are living in different silos within the same organization, the cultures may vary among the employees. Hospital leadership fosters the importance of collaboration within the organization and depends on the employees to ultimately drive the process. In order to overcome communication barriers in the workplace, conversations must occur. Engaging in daily face-to-face meetings with employees increases positive work culture, morale and overall productivity.
Even with all today’s advances in medicine, 30% of adults and 12% of children use healthcare outside of the conventional or mainstream medicine. When non-mainstream medicine is used in place of conventional medicine it is known as alternative. When non-mainstream medicine is used with conventional medicine it is known as complementary. A combination of conventional and complementary is known as integrative medicine. Complementary and alternative medicine, also known as CAM, is the use of medical products and practices that are not part of standard medical care. It is most commonly used by people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. PTSD is a mental health condition triggered by an event. Symptoms usually include behavior
Complementary and alternative therapies are relatively new and essential options in health care, they help to increase the quality of life of patients and provide them with numerous possibilities to ensure growth of their health, beyond current medicine. Recently, these therapies, such as massage therapy and acupuncture, have become more prevalent in research. Consequently, their substitution with standard medicine in the healthcare system has been supported by the literature. The literature that supports these methods has explored why complementary therapies are needed, the different and distinct features of each therapy, and they also examine the education and knowledge those implementing the services must have. To accurately analyze if complementary and alternative therapies are valuable to the health care system, this paper will aim to learn why they are becoming predominant and why nurses should use these therapies’ to assist in improving the health of individuals. To determine the main attributes of these therapies, a variety of resources that extensively discuss complementary and alternative therapies will be examined and the paper will also examine the benefits and weaknesses they have on improving health. Lastly, this paper will aim to determine if these services should be implemented by nurses as alternative options for their patients, as nurses should have substantial knowledge pertaining to implementing these therapies.
When I was younger I use to pretend to be a doctor or nurse. It was always fun to go around and check to see who had a heart beat, who was bleeding, and who was hurt. I knew that I wanted a career in the medical field, but was unsure if I really wanted to be a doctor or a nurse. I thought the only career was to be a doctor or nurse. Of course, the medical profession is larger than that. It includes office staff, EMT’s, nurses, physician assistants, and several other kinds of physicians. While the opportunities are endless in this career field, I have decided that being a doctor or nurse was not what I really wanted to do. It takes too long; the schooling alone is longer than four years. I was not willing to spend more than four years in school. Instead I decided that I wanted to do something that is in the same field as a doctor or nurse. Yet, something that takes less time in school to get a degree for. In addition, I wanted it to be something that I could do to help doctors, nurses, and patients. That is when I found out that Medical Coding and Billing is what I wanted to do.
Alzheimer’s disease is relentlessly destroying the brains and lives of our nation’s older adults, robbing them of memory, the ability to reason, and affecting their emotions and behavior. Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative disorder of the brain. The longer we live the greater the risk: one out of every two Americans aged 85 and older and one out of every 10 aged 65 and older are afflicted with the disease. It affects two groups of people: those with the disease and the loved ones who care for them. By the year 2050, an estimated 14 million Americans will be in its grip.
There is currently no cure for this traumatic disease, but current Alzheimer’s disease medications and management strategies may temporarily improve symptoms. This can sometimes help people with Alzheimer’s disease maximize function and maintain independence.
About 40% of Americans use some type of method outside the mainstream of conventional medicine. When hearing medicines that are being described outside the mainstream, you hear terms like complementary, alternative, or integrated medicine (CAM). Complementary medicine is usually referred to as medicine being combined with conventional medicine. Alternative medicine is usually ref...
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