Complementary and alternative medicine
Back to Topic
Click to Print
Useful Websites
Glossary Term Selection
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) includes a group of diverse medical and healthcare systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine. Complementary medicine is generally regarded as a complementary treatment that is used alongside conventional medicine, whereas alternative medicine is regarded as a treatment used in place of conventional medicine.[1]
There has been considerable interest in CAM, with a House of Lords Select Committee Report in November 2000 and a subcommittee of the Royal College of Physicians set up to examine certain aspects.[2] They reported in Clinical Medicine in 2003.[3]
The House of Lords Select Committee was very keen that there should be professional standards, registration and accountability in all aspects of CAM.2 Statutory regulation of the acupuncture profession has failed to happen and it is now thought any regulation in the future will be voluntary.[4] Osteopathy is regulated by the General ...
Want to see the rest of this article?
Would you like to see the rest of this article and all the other benefits that Issues Online can provide with?
- Useful related articles
- Video and multimedia references
- Statistical information and reference material
- Glossary of terms
- Key Facts and figures
- Related assignments
- Resource material and websites
