White House CAM Commission Debates Medical Education
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
The current status and potential of complementary and alternative medicine education in medical schools were discussed at the inaugural meeting of the White House Commission on Complementary & Alternative Medicine Policy in Washington, D.C. July 13-14.
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The current status and potential of complementary and alternative medicine education in medical schools were discussed at the inaugural meeting of the White House Commission on Complementary & Alternative Medicine Policy in Washington, D.C. July 13-14. "We don't really need to educate physicians to become CAM practitioners," commission member William Fair, MD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, maintained. Rather, the goal of CAM education should be to "educate physicians to know what's out there and how they can benefit from these other practitioners....I don't think we need another medical specialty." Dean Ornish, MD, University of California at San Francisco, agreed, stating, "What I would like to see in medical education is a process of learning and thinking about new ideas as opposed to compartmentalizing." "One of the opportunities we have now is that most medical schools are...working on reform, and we could encourage them to integrate these things," Joseph Fins, MD, Weill Medical College, Cornell University, pointed out. There could "be a role...for fellowship programs at a higher level," Fins noted. "I think we'll really train the leaders of the next generation." "We really have to make money available for medical schools for faculty development...because most medical schools don't have" the resources to teach CAM properly, should they so desire, he added. "I think certain competencies in CAM" should be taught as part of all medical education, commission Chair James Gordon, MD, Georgetown University Center for Mind-Body Medicine, asserted. Both nutritional information and "some kind of [physical] manipulation" should be part of medical school curricula, he maintained. One high-profile U.S. medical program is increasing its commitment to CAM research and education; Harvard University announced the creation of a CAM division at its medical school July 11 (1 (Also see "Harvard Medical School CAM Division Created, Headed By Eisenberg" - Pink Sheet, 24 Jul, 2000.)). The two-day commission meeting was the first of seven planned sessions. A report on the group's findings is due March 7, 2002 (2 (Also see "White House Commission On CAM Presented Queries From Harkin" - Pink Sheet, 17 Jul, 2000.)). |