DISCUSSION Saturday, May 27, 10:30-12:30
Complementary and Integrative Medicine Models: Clinical
Settings and Research Implications
Speakers: Shay Pintov, MD, Dorit Gamus, MD, PhD, Gustav
Dobos, MD, Marja Verhoef, PhD, Mary Hardy, MD, Moshe Frenkel, MD
The recent interest in the integrative practice
of CAM and conventional medicine resulted in a variety of integrative
medicine (IM) frameworks within health care services.
Since most of the IM settings developed as a
reflection of patients needs, policies of particular institutions, tradition
and culture of each country, the goal of this session is to bring questions
and challenges related to the issue of IM models. The session will cover
the issue of IM models from different perspectives, partially based
on the Israeli experience. It will include the following topics:
Clinical implementations:
1. CAM in primary care
2. CAM in a hospital setting
Presenters will discuss treatment models/protocols,
with the emphasis on: The framework of multi-professional teams (both
CAM and conventional practitioners). Case management and treatment modality
selection: optimizing outcomes within these multidisciplinary settings.
Examples of research projects that emerged out of this framework.
Research implications in these settings:
1. Research methodology in evaluating IM models
2. Discussion
Evaluation of IM models requires research designs
that take into account the complexity of the intervention, and may include
RCTs, randomized pragmatic designs, observational research, qualitative
methods or case studies. In addition, selected outcomes need to reflect
the intent and purpose of the IM model. One of the major issues is how
to evaluate the impact of integrative teamwork vs. presenting an additional
treatment modality for specific conditions. This part of the session
will address research issues in the assessment of the presented models
in terms of what should be evaluated as an outcome:
1. Potential impact on the patient: symptomatic
improvement/ perception of the disease/ perception of the therapists
(team-work, better compliance)
2. Impact on the team: MD's & CAM practitioners (therapeutic interaction
between MD-CAM practitioners and within different CAM modalities):