Marginal to Mainstream: Alternative Medicine in America - Softcover

Ruggie, Mary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521542227 ISBN 13: 9780521542227

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2004

Synopsis

Most users of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approach it differently than physicians, because they employ informal knowledge, based on their experiences, beliefs, and values. Mary Ruggie stresses that, although physicians also use informal knowledge from their clinical experience to understand patients and their needs, they rely on formal knowledge, based on science, to understand medicine. Thus, if CAM is going to become a legitimate part of health care, physicians must insist that scientific research prove its safety and efficacy.

About this title

Book Description

Most users of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approach it through different lenses than physicians. Ordinary people employ informal knowledge, which is based on their experiences, beliefs, and values. One chapter elaborates why people use CAM, another why physicians are becoming interested in it. Physicians also use informal knowledge, based on their experiences as clinicians, to understand patients and their needs. But physicians use formal knowledge, based on science, to understand medicine. If CAM is going to become a legitimate part of health care, physicians insist that scientific research must prove its safety and efficacy. Another chapter elaborates how scientific research is conducted (randomized, controlled, clinical trials). Another elaborates current scientific research on CAM.

About the Author

Mary Ruggie, PhD, is Professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. She is the author of "Marginal to Mainstream: Alternative Medicine in America" (2004). She speaks widely on sociological issues concerning CAM therapies, and has published several scholarly books on comparative social policies and comparative health policy.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521542227
• ISBN 13: 9780521542227
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 250