Complementary Medicine in Clinical Practice

Complementary Medicine in Clinical Practice
David Rakel, MD, University of Wisonsin Medical School, Nancy Faass, MSW, MPH

Softcover

: 576 pages
ISBN 0763730653
9780763730659
Jones & Bartlett
July 2005; Copyright 2006
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Complementary Medicine in Clinical Practice provides an overview and introduction to the world of complementary medicine, its implementation into clinical settings as well as its emerging role in U.S. health care.

The resources in this book are offered to empower you with greater access to the therapies of complementary medicine for your patients - those supported by research evidence and most widely accepted by physicians and consumers. Expanding the continuum of care to include lifestyle and complementary therapies can provide additional tools to address the health concerns that challenge your patients.

In addition to overviews and information regarding integration of these disciplines, key information is included for working with complementary providers:

From the Introduction: "Research shows that on any given day, approximately 75% of the people who see a primary care provider have a condition without a clear diagnosis (Kroenke, 1989). Nationwide, 44.5% of our population has one or more chronic conditions (Hoffman, Rice, and Sung, 1996). In an overlay to chronic illness, excessive weight gain now affects 65% of our population—and half these people have obesity, with its potential for a range of sequelae. Clearly the issues facing medicine are significant. Expanding the continuum of care to include lifestyle approaches and complementary medicine can provide us with additional tools and resources to address the health concerns that challenge our patients.

"An integrative approach expands the options available to patients and the physicians and practitioners who provide their care. This could mean strategic referrals to a virtual network or a multidisciplinary approach within an integrative medicine center. Health care practitioners who expand their continuum of care to include lifestyle and complementary therapies are able to provide a wider range of treatment strategies and to implement care, coordination, and management most effectively."

David Rakel, MD, is director of the University of Wisconsin Center for Integrative Medicine and assistant professor in the department on family medicine at the UW Medical School. A graduate of the two-year fellowship program in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center with Andrew Weil, MD, he is currently involved in two National Institutes of Health grants to study the placebo effect and to incorporate complementary and alternative therapy education into medical school curriculums. He is editor of another text for health care providers, Integrative Medicine, is board certified in family and holistic medicine, holds certification in sports medicine and interactive guided imagery, and sits on the board of the American Board of Holistic Medicine. Based in San Francisco, Nancy Faass, MSW, MPH, provides book and project development in integrative medicine and social sciences. With an MPH from the University of California at Berkeley and an MSW from the Catholic University of America, Faass has worked as a science editor and archivist, as well as a writer in scholarly publishing.