Friday, July 31, 2020

See Criteria Example

See Criteria Example See Criteria â€" Essay Example > Complementary, Alternative and Chinese MedicineAcceptance and IntegrationIntroductionComplementary and alternative medicine (ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE) is now a major part of the healthcare system in all advanced societies. It is also a common part of discourse in medicine and healthcare. This growth of interest has only partially been matched by academic study of it. Indeed, over recent years there has been an increasing recognition that ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE is essentially under-researched (House of Lords 2000). However, with this recognition has come an increasing concentration on a particular form of research-that geared towards the production of an evidence base and/or an immediate relevance to policy and practice. These research priorities are reflected in much of the work that is published on ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE. In both standard medical journals and in ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE specific publications the emphasis is squarely on the problems of efficacy and of issues to do with practi ce, most recently integrative practice. Most books written in the field follow this pattern, being either concerned with the demonstrable value of individual therapies (Ernst et al. 2001) or being written as 'how to' guides geared towards practitioners (see, for example, Vickers 1993; Downey 1997; Tanvir 2001). Viewing ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE as a historically contingent and contested social product produces a very complex picture of a diverse field of therapies, products and relationships. Whilst we can note the existence of contestation between orthodox medicine and ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE, we should not fall back on the conventional picture that presents ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE versus orthodox medicine as the key to understanding ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE. Neither orthodox medicine nor ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE is a monolith. There are disputes and boundary claims being made both within orthodox medicine and within ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE. Not all medical practitioners agree on what constitutes orth odox medicine and not all ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE practitioners agree on what constitutes the alternative or the complementary (Tovey and Adams 2001). In these disputes ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE can itself be used to assert boundaries within orthodox medicine, and make claims to particular skills or techniques, as, for example, in the case of nursing and therapeutic touch (Trevelyan and Booth 1994). Similarly, within ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE some practitioners seek alliance with orthodox medicine, using orthodox medical courses as part of the training of their therapists (for example chiropractic). The term 'complementary', and more recently the term 'integrative' medicine, are signals of this complex social interaction. Both orthodox medicine and ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE are constantly changing social products influenced by each other and by other social forces over which they have little or no control. The direction and pace of change is affected by the history of a particular region or country, so that homeopathy is popular among physicians in the UK, Germany, US and France (Wardwell 1994) and acupuncture among physicians in Australia (Easthope et al. 1998), while hydrotherapy is a major modality in Germany and herbal remedies are used both there and in China (Ullman 1993). Other contingencies such as changing state regulation affect which particular therapies are successful. For example, the Netherlands has recently allowed some modalities to receive limited state recognition and funding (Schepers and Hermans 1999) and the state of Victoria, in Australia, has legislated to register traditional Chinese medical practitioners (Willis and White). Less obviously, changing social structures in some countries or regions may create more middle-class consumers seeking preventive health measures through ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.