Library Grand Rounds

Alternative Medicine Information Resources
January 21, 1999

The January Library Grand Rounds focused on authoritative sources of information regarding alternative medicine.

Susan Hadley, M.D., DHMC Community Health Center, presented a brief overview of alternative medicine (also known as complementary medicine or integrative medicine). Librarians from Dartmouth's Biomedical Libraries presented two sources of reputable information about alternative medicine: Alt-HealthWatch and the NIH's CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) Citation Index. In addition, other valuable information resources for alternative medicine were identified.

Susan Hadley's presentation

Alt-HealthWatch is a *full-text* resource for clinicians and consumers. It includes periodicals, peer-reviewed journals, academic and professional publications, magazines, consumer newsletters and newspapers, research reports, and association newsletters focused on complementary, alternative, and integrated approaches to health care and wellness.

The NIH 's Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Citation Index consists of more than 90,000 bibliographic citations from 1966 to 1997, culled from the MEDLINE database.

To connect to these and other resources: Alternative and Complementary Medicine Resources

Alternative medicine is a timely topic:

• A recent study in JAMA (October 21, 1998) reported that 42% of Americans used alternative medicine therapies in 1997.
  
  
• Congress has ordered NIH to upgrade its Office of Alternative Medicine to a full-fledged center. The new National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is funding a number studies of alternative therapies.
  
  
• At DHMC, the Senior Leadership Group has encouraged that practitioners be provided with current information, research, and education regarding alternative therapies in order to facilitate the expansion of knowledge about the efficacy of various therapies.

Videotapes of this presentation are available in the Biomedical Libraries.

The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center designates this continuing education activity as meeting the criteria for one hour in Category I of the Physician's Recognition Award of the American Medical Association. The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to sponsor continuing medical education for physicians.