Web Resources

Journals and Books

Educational Development for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (EDCAM) - A National Curriculum for Medical Students

General

• National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, NIH (NIH NCCAM)
• healthfinder®, Department of Health and Human Services
• AMSA Medical Student Resource Center

Information about Herbs and Supplements

• Government or University-sponsored
  • Office of Dietary Supplements, NIH
  • Longwood Herbal Task Force, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
  • American Botanical Council, Herbal Medicine
  • MedlinePlus: Herbal Medicine
  • About Herbs, Botanicals & Other Products, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Subscription Databases
  • Natural Standard -- Access is restricted to UMMS/UMMHC workstations or by proxy service.
  • Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database
  • AltMedDex®
  • HerbMed, Alternative Medicine Foundation
  • Alt HealthWatch -- Access is restricted to UMMS/UMMHC workstations or by proxy service.
• Reporting of Adverse Events (1-800-FDA-1088)
  • For Providers
  • For Consumers
  • Safety Updates--Dietary Supplements
• Quality Control Websites
  • NPIcenter Quality Center
  • ConsumerLab.com
  • SupplementWatch
  • The United States Pharmacopeial Convention, Inc.

Licensing in Massachusetts

• Chiropractic
• Acupuncture
• Massage Therapy
• Homeopathy
• Naturopathy

Peer-Reviewed Journals

• Alternative & Complementary Therapies -- Access is restricted to UMMS/UMMHC workstations or by proxy service.
• Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, The -- Access is restricted to UMMS/UMMHC workstations or by proxy service.
• Complementary Therapies in Medicine
• Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine
• FACT: Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies

Reference Books

• The Desktop Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine - an evidence based approach. Edited by Edzard Ernst; co-edited by David Eisenberg, Mosby, 2000.
• Alternative Medicine: An Objective Assessment. Edited by P Fontanarosa. A compilation of articles that appeared in the 11/98 issue of JAMA.
• Complementary/Alternative Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach. Edited by J Spencer and J Jacobs, Mosby, 1999.
• Integrative Medicine. David Rakel, Elsevier, 2002.
• Textbook of Natural Medicine, 1999 -- Access is restricted to UMMS/UMMHC workstations or by proxy service.

Project Description

The goal of the Educational Development in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (EDCAM) project is to educate medical students about the role of CAM in medical practice, preventive medicine and self-care. The project is spearheaded by the American Medical Student Association, and supported through a grant from the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The following six schools have been selected to participate:

• University of Massachusetts School of Medicine
• University of Connecticut School of Medicine
• University of California at Irvine School of Medicine
• University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Center for Integrative Medicine at George Washington University
• Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Each school will pilot a comprehensive, integrated multi-disciplinary core curriculum in CAM spanning all four years of undergraduate medical education.

University of Massachusetts Medical School Project Overview

At UMass Medical School, the new CAM core curriculum is being developed and implemented over a four-year period (2003-2007), building on curricular components previously established. These include: a CAM Interclerkship; a one-day intensive program for 3rd year medical students featuring an introduction to CAM and varied CAM experiences; and a 2-week CAM Community Clerkship elective offered annually to first year medical students.

The UMass EDCAM project objectives are as follows:

1. Development and implementation of CAM curricular innovations in the required core curriculum, and through elective components. The CAM curriculum required of all students will feature innovations in the following four major areas: 1) an integrated reflective/self awareness component; 2) enhancements to the preclinical curriculum in basic sciences, medical interviewing, epidemiology; 3) enhancements to the clinical years clerkship curriculum; and 4) integration of new CAM components within full-day interclerkship educational programs. Experiential components will be emphasized in the required and elective CAM curricular innovations.
2. Development of a centralized resource base of standardized patients, reflecting the priority content and context areas of the core curriculum. These patients will serve as an exportable resource useful to other schools seeking to enhance CAM education.
3. Development of a comprehensive CAM website. This website will feature five components: curricular modules, a course evaluation system, communications tools, a searchable CAM curriculum database and enhanced web linkages and reference resources.
4. Development of a multi-disciplinary faculty development model. This model will focus on teaching CAM within the undergraduate medical education context, with the goal of developing local faculty expertise in order to support the new and expanded CAM curriculum at UMass.

For additional information about the EDCAM Initiative at UMass, contact:



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