Jump to comment:

• RE: Factors influencing the inclusion of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in undergraduate medical education
  Charles F Omondi
  Published on: 27 September 2024

• Published on: 27 September 2024

  RE: Factors influencing the inclusion of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in undergraduate medical education

  • Charles F Omondi

  In this article KR Smith makes three important points in the conclusion. Firstly, that it may be useful for the General Medical Council to clarify the extent to which Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) should be incorporated into the curriculum. Secondly, he suggests that current CAM education appears to exist primarily as a means of educating future doctors on the modalities that their patients may use or reque...

  Show More

  In this article KR Smith makes three important points in the conclusion. Firstly, that it may be useful for the General Medical Council to clarify the extent to which Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) should be incorporated into the curriculum. Secondly, he suggests that current CAM education appears to exist primarily as a means of educating future doctors on the modalities that their patients may use or request. And thirdly, he observes that some forms of pedagogy arguably risk students assimilating CAM advocacy in an uncritical fashion. These conclusions are pertinent in a country such as Kenya where a large proportion of the population use CAM partly due to culture and tradition and partly due to inability to afford conventional medicine. At the same time the teaching of complementary and alternative medicine to health professionals is far from fully developed with varying curriculum content and teaching and learning methods on the one hand, and the ongoing debate on CAM integration in health care, on the other. There is also acknowledgement of the changes which may need to be effected in order to improve medical education with regard to CAM which in turn will have effect its full inclusion safety and the efficacy in the healthcare system. It is true that guidance from the regulatory authority in relation to teaching CAM in health professional schools will be necessary. However, in addition this should be in the context of a structured needs assessment incorporating key stakeholders including input of conventional medical practitioners, CAM practitioners, the faculty, students, and the community (the consumers of CAM). I also agree with the author that CAM education should address more than preparing the future health service practitioners to respond to patient requests. The students need to be prepared to critically think and engage CAM practitioners and literature as well as also be prepared to make informed to choice on the benefits of CAM for their own personal consumption self-awareness and self-care. Thus, apart from lectures and other didactic approaches opportunities to experience CAM personally, particularly mind-body approaches and stress management, as part of self-care should provide to student opportunity for experiential learning. The students who learn the fundamentals of self-awareness and self-care will also be better able to teach their patients to care for themselves. Therefore medical education should include opportunities to experience CAM approaches, such as meditation and relaxation therapy, for students who personally may benefit from these approaches during their stressful journey through health professionals training. The faculty will also understand first-hand the importance of experiential learning and how this initiative in CAM could actually advance learning in terms of broader issues, such as improved patient-provider communication, and heightened student and faculty self-awareness and self-care while also addressing personal biases in clinical interactions, personal health and wellness, or training in mind-body interventions.

  Conflict of Interest:

  None declared

  Show Less

  Conflict of Interest:
  None declared.

  • Back to top