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Medical Education in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM): A European Perspective

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Integrative Pediatric Oncology

Part of the book series: Pediatric Oncology ((PEDIATRICO))

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Abstract

As use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is becoming increasingly popular among patients, we need to take a new look at how we are educating our future doctors. Opinions on integration of CAM courses into the main curriculum at medical faculties differ. In this chapter, we would like to discuss various aspects of this issue. Starting with the question of why CAM should be taught at medical schools, in the first section, we briefly outline the current usage of CAM among patients and then look at CAM from the physician’s point of view. How do physicians view the increasing popularity of CAM among patients and how do they deal with it? Do physicians integrate CAM into their regular practice? Do they wish for more training on CAM topics? We then go on to describe the current situation of CAM education in Europe. This section includes reports on how CAM is viewed at universities or medical faculties as well as a paragraph about possible reasons for the slow progress in integrating CAM into medical curricula in Europe. In the next section, we look at the content that should be taught and possible ways of integrating it into the medical curriculum. The final section describes the “Integrated Curriculum for Anthroposophic Medicine” (ICURAM) at the University of Witten/Herdecke in Germany as an example of successful integration of CAM into the medical education of students at a German university.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Continuing medical education

  2. 2.

    The CAMDOC Alliance is an affiliation of the European Committee for Homeopathy (ECH), the European Council of Doctors for Plurality in Medicine (ECPM), the International Council of Medical Acupuncture and Related Techniques (ICMART), and the International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations (IVAA). It represents 132 European associations of medical doctors practicing CAM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty for Health, School of Medicine, Integrated Curriculum for Anthroposophic Medicine, Witten-Herdecke University, Herdecke, Germany

    Tim Schütze, Anne-Marie Schnell, Diethard Tauschel, Christian Scheffer & Friedrich Edelhäuser

Authors
  1. Tim Schütze
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  2. Anne-Marie Schnell
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  3. Diethard Tauschel
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  4. Christian Scheffer
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  5. Friedrich Edelhäuser
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Friedrich Edelhäuser .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Kinderheilkunde und Jugendmedizin, Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Herdecke, Gerhard-Kienle-Weg 4, Herdecke, 58313, Germany

    Alfred Längler

  2. The Cancer Team at Bellin Health, Commanche Avenue 1580, Green Bay, 54313, Wisconsin, USA

    Patrick J. Mansky

  3. Dept. of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, Dept. of Pediatric Hematol Oncol, Universitätsklinikum Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, Berlin, 13353, Berlin, Germany

    Georg Seifert

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Schütze, T., Schnell, AM., Tauschel, D., Scheffer, C., Edelhäuser, F. (2012). Medical Education in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM): A European Perspective. In: Längler, A., Mansky, P., Seifert, G. (eds) Integrative Pediatric Oncology. Pediatric Oncology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04201-0_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04201-0_12

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