What should medical students learn about complementary and alternative medicine?

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 169-170
Author(s):  
David A Bender
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Alternative Medicine ◽  
Complementary And Alternative Medicine ◽  
Complementary And Alternative

scholarly journals Medical students use, attitudes towards, and knowledge of complementary and alternative medicine: A scoping review

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 107-117
Author(s):  
Sarah Brown ◽  
Justin L C Bilszta
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Alternative Medicine ◽  
Complementary And Alternative Medicine ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Medical Curriculum ◽  
Undergraduate Medical Students ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes And Knowledge ◽  
Complementary And Alternative

Introduction: Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is popular in the general population and medical practitioners may not be fully equipped in their knowledge of CAM to advise patients appropriately. The aim of this paper was to perform a scoping review of current literature describing undergraduate medical student use, attitudes, and knowledge of CAM as a means of better understanding the educational needs of these students. Methods: A systematic search of Medline, PubMed and the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) databases with keywords related to “complementary and alternative medicine” and “undergraduate medical students” for relevant articles published until August 2020. Results: Of 131 papers identified, 38 underwent full review. It was found 13-80% of medical students use CAM, and overall have a positive attitude towards CAM therapies. Female medical students and those with religiosity had more positive attitudes towards CAM than their male colleagues and those without a religion. Knowledge of CAM is lacking with approximately only half of students feeling they were knowledgeable about CAM therapies. Popular information resources are the Internet and social media, but students expressed they want more teaching of CAM in the undergraduate medical curriculum. Conclusion: Evidence suggests high usage of CAM amongst undergraduate medical students, and positive attitudes towards CAM therapies; however, knowledge of CAM is poor, and students want more CAM teaching to upskill them in counselling patients interested in CAM therapies. Further areas for research include a better understanding of resources medical students use for their knowledge and how gender and religiosity influence attitudes towards CAM.

scholarly journals A Survey of Medical Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Urmia, Iran

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 306-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahshid Sadeghi ◽  
Soheila Rabiepoor ◽  
Aida Sefidani Forough ◽  
Shiva Jabbari ◽  
Shahram Shahabi
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Alternative Medicine ◽  
Complementary And Alternative Medicine ◽  
Medical Curriculum ◽  
Neuromuscular Disorders ◽  
Knowledge And Attitudes ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Data Collection Instrument ◽  
Complementary And Alternative

Personal beliefs of medical students may interfere with their tendency for learning Complementary and Alternative Medicine concepts. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of medical students toward complementary and alternative medicine in Urmia, Iran. A structured questionnaire was used as data collection instrument. One hundred questionnaires were returned. Thirty-one percent of students reported use of alternative medicine for at least once. Iranian Traditional Medicine was the main type of alternative medicine used by medical students (93.5%). Neuromuscular disorders were the main indication of alternative medicine use among students (34.4%). Ninety percent of participants demonstrated competent knowledge about acupuncture while the lowest scores belonged to homeopathy (12%). Study results showed that 49% of medical students had positive attitudes and demonstrated a willingness to receive training on the subject. Thus, there appears a necessity to integrate complementary and alternative medicine into the medical curriculum, by taking expectations and feedbacks of medical students into consideration.

scholarly journals Medical student attitudes towards complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in medical education: a critical review

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Joyce ◽  
Jon Wardle ◽  
Chris Zaslawski
Keyword(s):  
Medical Student ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Alternative Medicine ◽  
Complementary And Alternative Medicine ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Medical Curriculum ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Medical Student Attitudes ◽  
Complementary And Alternative

AbstractBackgroundThis paper aims to remedy a gap in the knowledge by presenting the first critical review of the literature on major themes relating to medical students perceptions and attitudes towards the exponentially growing field of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).MethodsAfter a comprehensive database search of the literature, 21 papers were chosen as suitable for the review. The results from these papers were tabled and discussed.ResultsThe results indicated that medical students lacked knowledge of CAM and are generally positive towards CAM education (especially in the preclinical years, if it provided evidence of efficacy and post-placement). Medical students thought that CAM should generally be incorporated into the medical curriculum mainly so they can confidently undertake referral to CAM practitioners. Being able to communicate with future patients about their CAM use was a major motivation for medical students to learn about CAM and a factor for medical student support of further incorporation of CAM content in the medical curricula. Educational exposure to CAM in many forms and in many papers was shown to significantly affect medical student attitudes to CAM. This may be reflective of the fact that, outside direct CAM training, there may be limited accessible opportunities for medical students and if integration is to occur, educational exposure is most important.ConclusionsThe rise of CAM as a social and clinical phenomenon necessitates consideration of further inclusion of these topics in the medical curriculum, if future physicians are to be able to fully discharge their role as care providers in an increasingly medically pluralistic world. However, the inclusion of CAM needs to be done in an objective and critical manner, which is relevant to the learner.

Perceptions of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Amongst Medical Students in Singapore – a Survey

2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela SH Yeo ◽  
Jonathan CH Yeo ◽  
Colin Yeo ◽  
Chau Hung Lee ◽  
Lan Fern Lim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Alternative Medicine ◽  
Complementary And Alternative Medicine ◽  
Conventional Medicine ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
The Public ◽  
Main Barrier ◽  
Interest And Knowledge ◽  
Beliefs And Attitudes ◽  
Complementary And Alternative

Background In view of the current upsurge of interest in, practice of, and research into, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) worldwide and locally, a survey was conducted to gauge the understanding, interest and knowledge of CAM amongst medical students in a local university. Methods A total of 555 first to fifth year medical students completed a questionnaire (54% response rate) designed to assess their knowledge, beliefs and attitudes to CAM in general and 16 common CAM therapies. Results Acupuncture was the best known therapy, with 57% claiming to know at least something about it. No students claimed they knew a lot about chiropractic, osteopathy, Ayuverdic medicine, homeopathy and naturopathy, and many had not ever heard of these therapies. Knowledge of commonly held beliefs about the 16 CAM modalities was generally poor, even for modalities which students claimed to know most about. A significant number of students had knowledge about CAM that was erroneous. Lack of scientific support was considered to be the main barrier to implementation of CAM. Attitudes to CAM were positive, with 92% believing that CAM includes ideas and methods from which conventional medicine can benefit, 86% wishing to know more about CAM and 91% stating that CAM would play an important role in their future medical practice. Conclusion As the public's use of various healing practices outside conventional medicine accelerates, ignorance about these practices by the country's future medical practitioners risks broadening the communication gap between the public and the profession that serves them. The majority of medical students recognise this risk and are keen to bridge this gap.

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