(11) Complementary & Alternative Medicine

Question 1

What is complementary medicine?

Answer 1

Therapies that involve any medical system based on a theory of disease or methods of treatment other than the traditional science of medicine as taught in medical schools

Question 2

Why do people access complementary medicines (5)?

Answer 2

• Feel more cared, more time spent per person
• Prefer holistic approaches
• Persist symptoms
• Felt adverse effects from conventional medicine
• High positive ratings from others

Question 3

What are some of the main concerns a doctor may have about patients using complementary therapies (5)?

Answer 3

• May delay treatments/diagnosis
• May reject conventional medicine
• May waste money on ineffective treatments
• May seek from unqualified practitioners
• Some are just too implausible that may not work

Question 4

What are some of the issues with the evidence base for complementary medicines (3)?

Answer 4

• Who funds this?
• Too little evidence to prove reliability
• Difficult to double-blind

Question 5

Suggest some reasons for NICE initiating research into complementary therapies (5).

Answer 5

• Half GP give access
• High public interest
• NICE should give same standards
• Could address inequalities in access
• NICE could stimulate more/higher quality research

Question 6

Suggest some reasons against NICE initiating research into complementary therapies (3).

Answer 6

• NICE have hight priorities
• Not enough money
• Poor quality evidence

Question 7

Describe the process of aromatherapy. Suggest how aromatherapy may work?

Answer 7

• Give essential oils which have therapeutic properties + massage -> release tension, stress, improving health and sense of wellbeing
• Stimulates limbic system of the midbrain, which release hormones that influence mood

Question 8

Suggest how acupuncture may work?

Answer 8

• Niddleling through trigger points that may work through characteristic patterns of referred pain