7.19.2007

Docs and nurses use "alternative medicine"

An interesting report details the uses of herbs and dietary supplements by doctors, nurses, and other mainstream health care providers. Although it focuses on clinicians enrolled in an online course about alternative medicine and supplements, the study still gives some interesting tidbits: first off, over 80% of the practitioners used some form of herb or supplement. The top choices are things like multivitamins and specific vits; but herbs such as green tea, chamomile, flax, cinnamon and Echinacea are right up there. I keep saying that things are changing with the new batches of allopaths coming out of the medical and nursing schools: I hope the positive attitudes can translate to good education, both of the care providers and their patients!

2 comments:

frontierscientist said...

Certainly an important part of M.D. and Dentistry curriculum, which should include subjects such as microelements, dietary supplements, common herbal remedies, and ethnobotany. Here in Denmark I teach
medical and dental students, nurses, fysiotherapists, etc. these alternative subjects as extracurricular courses. I have trained several thousand students over the last 30 years or so.

Scott Hill
frontier sciences group
Copenhagen
www.myspace.com/frontiersciences

Guido Mase' said...

Scott, that's good to hear. I grew up in Italy, and have always felt that Europe in general, and Scandinavia in particular, are much more open minded in presenting a well-rounded curriculum to their healthcare students. After all, it's about helping clients, not dogma, right?