Education
Materials & Publications
Evaluation
Materials
Proceedings
from the Evaluation Conference
for CAM Curriculum
On June 16-18, 2002, Drs. Warber,
Benn, Gruppen and Fantone held
a national working conference on
evaluating integrative, complementary,
and alternative curricula. The
purpose of the conference was to
share and create usable tools and
processes to evaluate all components
and outcomes of integrative curricula,
to identify and design multi-institutional
studies to compare curricular impact,
and to facilitate collaboration
among institutions involved in
integrating CAM into their curricula.
The conference was held in Ann
Arbor, MI, with a keynote presentation
by Dr. John Creswell, a noted expert
in qualitative and quantitative
research evaluation methods. Participants
from 19 national and international
institutions attended, many of
which had received grants from
the National Institutes of Health
to incorporate CAM into their medical
or nursing school curricula.
Proceedings from the Evaluation
Conference for CAM Curriculum can
be purchased from UMIM for $16.00
including shipping and handling
charges. Inquires to purchase the
material should be directed to:
Alexis Zirpoli, Administrative
Assistant
University of Michigan Integrative Medicine
715 E. Huron St., Suite 1W
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
(734) 998-0028
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Attitudes
Towards Professional Practice of
CAM Questionnaire (APP-CAM)
This 31-item survey tool, developed
by Benn, Smith, Warber and Gruppen
(2003), is designed to measure
medical students practice attitudes
towards incorporation of complementary,
alternative, and allopathic medicine.
The factor structure underlying
this questionnaire explicitly addresses
integrative, conventional, and
relationship-focused dimensions,
and can be used to track both individual
changes in a student's attitudes
over time, as well as programmatic
changes resulting from more comprehensive
inclusion of curriculum material
related to integrative medicine.
This questionnaire and scoring
template is available in the Proceedings
from the Evaluation Conference
for CAM Curriculum or can be requested
from:
Alexis Zirpoli, Administrative
Assistant
University of Michigan Integrative Medicine
715 E. Huron St., Suite 1W
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
(734) 998-0028
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Curriculum
Guide
Curriculum in Integrative
Medicine: A Guide for Medical Educators
The Integrative Medicine Curriculum
Guide has been designed to assist
medical educators to implement
curriculum that supports the development
of integrative medicine competencies.
In 2001, a subgroup of the Consortium
of Academic Health Centers in Integrative
Medicine (CAHCIM) began to work
on guidelines for assisting medical
schools in their design of integrative
medicine curriculum activities.
As a first step, this Education
Working Group developed a set of
competencies that delineated the
values, knowledge, attitudes and
skills that the CAHCIM believes
are fundamental to the field of
Integrative Medicine. A second
step involved the development of
a curriculum guide to outline effective
curriculum aligned with these competencies.
The Guide has been distributed
to all medical schools. It contains
samples of materials that were
contributed by medical educators
from a number of U.S. medical schools
belonging to the Consortium to
illustrate approaches to introducing
CAM and integrative medicine topics. Materials
presented in the Guide represent
offerings from a variety of medical
schools that can be employed at
different levels within the four
years of medical school. The curriculum
examples represent a variety of
topics and incorporate the many
approaches to facilitating effective
learning. Modules include:
- CAM overview/CAM field experience
- CAM overview/legal issues module
- Interview skills/OSCE
- Herbal medicine module
- Case study: back pain/chiropractic
- Spirituality module
- Integrative approach to asthma
- Mind/Body skill module
- CAM and Evidence-based medicine
- CAM and cross-cultural issues
- Clinical elective
- Healer's Art experiential unit
In addition to curriculum samples,
included are the integrative medicine
competencies, and a discussion
of curriculum evaluation methods.
The co-editors of this Guide were
Benjamin Kligler, Rita Benn, and
Gwen Alexander. The guide is available
in hard copy and CD-ROM formats.
A PDF version is available on the
CAHCIM website: http://www.imconsortium.org/.
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Published
Articles
Kligler
B. Maizes V. Schachter S. Park
CM. Gaudet T. Benn R. Lee R.
Remen RN. Education Working Group,
Consortium of Academic Health
Centers for Integrative Medicine.
Core competencies in integrative
medicine for medical school curricula:
a proposal. Academic Medicine
. 79(6):521-31, 2004 Jun.
Abstract:
The authors present a set of curriculum
guidelines in integrative medicine
for medical schools developed during
2002 and 2003 by the Education
Working Group of the Consortium
of Academic Health Centers for
Integrative Medicine (CAHCIM) and
endorsed by the CAHCIM Steering
Committee in May 2003. CAHCIM is
a consortium of 23 academic health
centers working together to help
transform health care through rigorous
scientific studies, new models
of clinical care, and innovative
educational programs that integrate
biomedicine, the complexity of
human beings, the intrinsic nature
of healing, and the rich diversity
of therapeutic systems.
Integrative medicine can be defined
as an approach to the practice
of medicine that makes use of the
best-available evidence taking
into account the whole person (body,
mind, and spirit), including all
aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes
the therapeutic relationship and
makes use of both conventional
and complementary/alternative approaches.
The competencies described in
this article delineate the values,
knowledge, attitudes, and skills
that CAHCIM believes are fundamental
to the field of integrative medicine.
Many of these competencies reaffirm
humanistic values inherent to the
practice of all medical specialties,
while others are more specifically
relevant to the delivery of the
integrative approach to medical
care, including the most commonly
used complementary/alternative
medicine modalities, and the legal,
ethical, regulatory, and political
influences on the practice of integrative
medicine. The authors also discuss
the specific challenges likely
to face medical educators in implementing
and evaluating these competencies,
and provide specific examples of
implementation and evaluation strategies
that have been found to be successful
at a variety of CAHCIM schools.
Zick
SM. Benn R. Bridging CAM practice
and research: teaching CAM practitioners
about research methodology. Alternative
Therapies in Health & Medicine.
10(3):50-6, 2004 May-Jun.
Abstract:
The National Institutes of Health
(NIH) is continuing to provide
funds directed to support research
in complementary and alternative
medicine (CAM). CAM providers typically
have insufficient knowledge of
scientific language or research
methodology to develop rigorous
proposals. Their ability to contribute
meaningfully as advisors, teachers,
or research partners in academic
settings, is hence limited. To
address this issue, we have developed
and implemented a 7-week course
designed to teach community-based
CAM providers: (1) to understand
scientific terminology, research
design and grantsmanship; (2) to
critically evaluate the research
literature; and (3) to design pilot
studies in areas of their interest.
In this article, we describe the
recruitment process for selecting
course participants, the course
design and instructional process
and the evaluation results based
on qualitative and quantitative
methodology. We offer suggestions
for developing training opportunities
both at the local and national
level that would increase the expertise
of CAM providers in participating
and seeking funded research.
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