Talk about CAM
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine launches a campaign - Time to Talk - this month to encourage patients and their health care providers "to openly discuss the use of complementary and alternative medicine," according to a June 6 release. Almost two-thirds of people older than 50 use CAM, but less than one-third of them talk with their health care providers about using the products and services, according to a national consumer survey conducted by NCCAM and the AARP. The most common reasons for the lack of patient-doctor interaction about CAM were: the physician never asked; the patient did not know they should discuss CAM use with their practitioner; and there was not enough time during office visits. Discussing CAM minimizes the risk of adverse interactions with conventional care, NCCAM says...