Alternative Health Your Library

1
Alternative Health _at_ Your Library

• David Free
• Georgia Perimeter College
• dfree_at_gpc.edu
• www.gpc.edu/dfree/cam.htm

2
What is Complementary/ Alternative Medicine

• A group of diverse health care systems, practices
  and products that are not considered part of
  conventional medicine.
• Key questions about whether they are safe and
  work for conditions for which they are used.
• Source National Center for Complementary and
  Alternative Medicine

3
Complementary Medicine

• Treatment used in conjunction with conventional
  medicine.
• Example Using aromatherapy to lessen
  post-operative discomfort

4
Alternative Medicine

• Treatments used in place of conventional
  medicine.
• Example Seeking chiropractic treatment for back
  pain instead of drugs or surgery.

5
Integrative Medicine

• Combines mainstream medical therapies and CAM
  therapies for which there are high-quality
  scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness.

6
Alternative Medical Systems

• Complete systems of health theory and practice
• Homeopathy
• Naturopathy
• Chinese Medicine

7
Mind-Body Interventions

• Techniques designed to enhance the minds
  capacity to affect bodily function and symptoms.
• Meditation
• Mental healing

8
Biology Based Therapies

• Treatments using substances found in nature.
• Dietary Supplements
• Herbal Medicines

9
Manipulative/ Body-Based Methods

• Manipulation and/ or movement of one or more
  parts of the body.
• Chiropractic
• Osteopathic Manipulation
• Massage Therapy

10
Energy Therapies

• Involve use and manipulation of energy fields.
• Biofield Therapies - Affect energy fields
  surrounding human body to promote health.
  Examples Reiki, Qi Gong.
• Bioelectromagnetic Therapies - Use of magnetic
  fields or electric current in healing.

11
Who Uses Alternative Medicine?

• Female
• Poorer Health Status
• College Educated
• Middle To Upper Income Range
• Holistic Orientation Towards Health
• Transformational Experience That Changed Worldview

12
Why People Use CAM

• Treat specific disease or condition, usually
  chronic conditions
• Prevent specific disease or condition
• Promote overall health
• Source Rafferty et al. (2002)

13
Most Common Conditions

• Back Problems
• Allergies
• Fatigue
• Arthritis
• Headaches
• Source Eisenberg et al. (1998)

14
Most Utilized Therapies

• Herbal Supplements
• Diet Therapy
• Chiropractic
• Dietary Supplements
• Massage/ Osteopathic Manipulation
• Source Rafferty et al. (2002)

15
Most Utilized Therapies

• Relaxation Techniques
• Herbal Medicine
• Massage
• Chiropractic
• Source Eisenberg et al. (1998)

16
An Alarming Statistic!

• Fewer that half (45.9) of CAM users in one study
  discussed CAM usage with their medical doctor
• Where are they getting their information on CAM
  treatments and effectiveness?
• Source Raffery et al. (2002)

17
GALILEO CAM Resources

• Alt HealthWatch
• CINAHL
• Clinical Pharmacology
• Medline (with Full Text)

18
Alt HealthWatch

• This alternative health database provides full
  text for more than 140 publications in the
  collection, including full text for many
  peer-reviewed journals. Alt HealthWatch provides
  in-depth coverage across the full spectrum of
  subject areas covered by complementary and
  alternative medicine dating back to 1990.

19
(No Transcript)
20
CINAHL

• CINAHL provides bibliographic access to over
  1,550 nursing and allied health journals,
  publications of the American Nurses Association
  and the National League for Nursing, nursing
  dissertations, and selected other biomedical
  journals.
• Complementary and alternative health topics.

21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
Clinical Pharmacology

• Clinical Pharmacology provides access up-to-date,
  concise and clinically-relevant drug monographs
  for all U.S. prescription drugs, hard-to-find
  herbal and nutritional supplements,
  over-the-counter products and new and
  investigational drugs.
• Patient information in English and Spanish.

24
(No Transcript)
25
Medline (with Full Text)

• EbscoHost Medline interface
• MEDLINE provides authoritative medical
  information on medicine, nursing, dentistry,
  veterinary medicine, the health care system,
  pre-clinical sciences, and much more. Created by
  the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE allows
  users to search abstracts from over 4,600 current
  biomedical journals.

26
PubMed CAM Subset

• National Library of Medicine Medline Interface
• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/
• Subset of journals/ articles dealing with CAM

27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)
30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32
Internet Resources

• National Center For Complementary and Alternative
  Medicine
• National Institutes of Health Center for CAM
  research and information dissemination
• nccam.nih.gov

33
(No Transcript)
34
(No Transcript)
35
Internet Resources

• Medline Plus
• National Library of Medicine Online Health
  Information
• medlineplus.gov

36
(No Transcript)
37
(No Transcript)
38
Internet Resources

• Alternative Medicine Homepage
• University of Pittsburg Health Sciences Library
  directory of CAM information
• Directory of links to online resources
• www.pitt.edu/cbw/altm.html

39
(No Transcript)
40
(No Transcript)
41
Evaluating Health Resources

• Print Sources
• GALILEO Resources
• Other Online Resources
• Health On The Web Foundation - www.hon.ch

42
Authorship/ Authority

• Who is the author?
• What are her credentials and affiliations?
• Published in peer reviewed literature?

43
Currency

• Does the site have an obvious date of origin and
  last update?
• Essential for online health information!

44
Purpose

• Does site exist for informational purposes?
• Trying to sell a product/ service?
• Who is the intended audience?

45
Disclosure

• Is the site sponsored by commercial concerns?
• Ties to organizations?
• Accept advertising?
• Other funding arrangements?

46
Attribution

• Does the site include references to outside
  studies?
• Peer reviewed literature?
• Controlled research trials/ studies?
• Case studies?
• Anecdotal evidence?

47
Objectivity

• Does the site present a balanced picture?
• Are multiple points of view included?
• Bias?