Complementary and Alternative Medicine, An Illustrated Colour Text

A short, illustrated introductory text on the basics of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), written primarily from the perspective of what medical students need to know and understand about this subject. It will explore what CAM is and why it's popular with patients, what are the principal therapies, their appropriate use for treating common diseases, and how CAM can be integrated into everyday general practice.




Features


A short, readable book on the basics of CAM
Supported by research findings
Applied to everyday medical practice
Written at a level suitable for medical and other health students
Short and succinct - thus appropriate for a short module on CAM - with text broken up by boxes, pictures and line drawings (in the ICT style)





Contents
Section 1: Introduction to complementary and alternative medicine. What is complementary and alternative medicine? Learning about CAM: reasons, recommendations and strategies.
Section 2: Ethics, law and professional issues.
Section 3: Conventional perspectives of CAM. Different approaches to understanding illness and health. Different approaches to treating and preventing illness. Safety of complementary and alternative medicines. Finding evidence on CAM. Assessing CAM evidence.
Section 4: Users’ perspective of CAM. Trends and perceptions. Users sources of information. A personal experience.
Section 5: Communication and relationships. History taking and giving advice. Organising care and teamwork.
Section 6: Specific CAM therapies. Manual medicine. Osteopathy. Chiropractic. Herbal medicine. Traditional Chinese herbal medicine. Hypnosis. Prayer and faith healing. Acupuncture. Homeopathy. Massage and aromatherapy. Reflexology. Nutritional therapy.