Where can I learn the basics of these modalities?

CAM information is readily available in journal articles and continuing medical education courses, as well as in books, the internet, and the popular media. The importance of defining a reliable source for your information cannot be over-emphasized. Traditional medical journals, such as JAMA and the Annals of Internal Medicine, regularly publish articles and information on clinical CAM trials, modality information, and practice integration. One peer-reviewed journal devoted entirely to CAM is Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. This journal regularly examines CAM trials, integration of techniques into allopathic practice, and scientific objectivity, as well as providing insight into CAM modalities being used today.

Many institutions offer CAM education for CME credit. Most notably, Harvard University and the Beth Israel Mind Body Center, under the tutelage of CAM proponent Dr. David Eisenberg, offers multiple CME training sessions each year on various CAM topics. The Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program at Stanford University is similarly renowned for its investigation of clinical applications of CAM and their inclusion into medical practice as well as the overall health care routines of many Americans today.

CAM modalities and practices are slowly becoming integrated into medical school curriculum so tomorrow's physicians will better understand the fundamental theories behind the treatments. A 1998 JAMA article by Wetzel, Eisenberg, and Kaptchik stated, "..patients are increasingly seeking to identify a physician who is solidly grounded in conventional, orthodox medicine and is also knowledgeable about the value and limitations of alternative treatments." The researchers in this article surveyed US medical schools on their CAM offerings in the curriculum. Achieving a 94% response rate, 64% of those medical schools that replied offered either elective courses in CAM, or included CAM topics in required courses. (1998 Sep2;280(9):784-7) Furthermore, in September of 2001, Georgetown University School of Medicine was awarded a $1.7 million NIH grant to comprehensively integrate CAM into both the basic science and clinical curriculum. Its inclusion into formal medical school curriculum and prevalence of use among Americans today are strong indicators of CAM's ever-growing mainstream acceptance.