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Jay Udani, MD

JAMA. 1998;280:1620.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Residents and other physicians may wonder whether alternative medicine offers new hope to patients or if such therapies constitute quackery. The notion of alternative medicine as quackery has been reinforced by a once commonly heard definition that equates alternative with any medical treatment not taught in accredited US medical schools. That definition is no longer valid, as more medical schools have added nontraditional courses in response to growing public interest in alternative therapies.

The change in attitudes toward these therapies can be seen in the change in language used to describe them; the terms now current imply a relationship between the different approaches to medicine. The word alternative is often replaced by the words complementary and integrative. Complementary implies that these modalities are performed as an adjunct to, and not simply in place of, conventional western medicine. The newest term, integrative medicine , implies an even . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Fellow, Health Services Research and Integrative Medicine
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Beverly Hills, Calif