Legal and Social Barriers to Alternative Therapies

描述（由申请人提供）：

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this application is to prepare a scholarly, book-length manuscript that critically evaluates the integration of complementary and alternative medical ("CAM") therapies into conventional medical settings in the United States. The empirical focus is on studying a minimum of fifteen and as many as thirty established, integrative health care centers, most of which are hospital-based or affiliated with academic medical centers. The book will present a scholarly analysis of how these integrative health care centers have undertaken the challenge of integrating CAM therapies into conventional care. Our specific aims are to provide information to help health care providers and institutions: (1) develop credentialing standards and procedures for licensed CAM practitioners (e.g., chiropractors, acupuncturists and massage therapists) who may serve as members of a clinical team within an integrative health care setting; (2) develop appropriate policies and procedures to minimize malpractice liability risk in integrative health care practices; (3) develop guidelines regarding pharmacy and therapeutics committee practices, as they relate to the use or avoidance of herbal products and other dietary supplements; and (4) understand the institutional, political and social support structure that develops integrative health care centers, the role of market forces, and the importance of scientific and medical knowledge for the responsible delivery of integrative health care. Our methods include: (a) a critical review of the existing literature on strategies and barriers involved in forging models of integrative care, (b) interviews with key personnel in the selected, integrated health care centers regarding views and policies about credentialing, liability, and dietary supplements, and (c) interviews with such leaders regarding the development of their practices and the problems they have encountered. Such a study aims to fill a gap in the current health care literature by collecting the kind of information needed to develop, sustain, or critically evaluate the evidence-based clinical integration of CAM therapies in conventional medical settings.