Proportionately few CAM studies exist when compared to those for pharmaceutical drug and conventional medicine. One major reason for this is insufficient funding: appropriations for the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) have historically never exceeded half of 1% of the total amount its "parent institution", the National Institutes of Health (NIH), divvies up every year. For 2013, NCCAM's portion is $128 million (0.4%) of the NIH's $31 billion in allocations.
But all is not doom and gloom! Despite challenges, an increasing number of high quality CAM studies are being conducted using approaches that "fit the medicine" and then published in widely-read journals. Finding CAM studies often requires more effort than other areas of medicine, but as you explore the rest of the tutorial, you'll discover techniques that will allow you to become an efficient and effective searcher.
Key Research Databases with CAM Coverage
Access databases via MyBU>Library>Databases, or the Clinical Portal.
Key Medical and CAM Journals
The more focused your topic, the better your search results are likely to be, but what if you aren't sure what lifestyle modification or intervention might be best for your patient? PubMed offers two ways to filter searches for CAM studies. These techniques work best when combined with a health condition; they'll give you an idea of the types of interventions that have been studied in relation to it.
PubMed CAM Filter Method #1 (narrower search, fewer results):
Example: atrial fibrillation AND complementary therapies.
NOTE: Using Complementary Therapies doesn't ensure a comprehensive search; become familiar with the concepts it does and doesn't include to help you decide when to use it.
PubMed CAM Filter Method #2 (broader search, more results):
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