Alternative and complementary therapies--including acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal medicine, osteopathy, massage therapy, chiropractic, biofeedback, and others--continue to gain popularity. A number of these therapies have been recognized by physicians, nurses and other mainstream health care providers as providing a positive impact on the health of their patients. Integrating these therapies and their practitioners into a traditional clinical environment can be a challenge for health care leaders who are unsure how to begin.
- Complementary & Alternative Therapies includes:
- Overviews of alternative and complementary healing systems and practices
- Stand-alone and collaborative models of integrative health care projects
- Issues surrounding goals and objectives for planning integrative care
- Key factors for consideration during implementation
- Methods of project evaluation, including data collection and analysis
- Business and financial aspects of developing an integrated environment
Complementary and Alternative Therapies offers realistic analysis, practical information, and strategies that administrators, managers, and project directors can use throughout all phases of an integrative health care effort.
DORIS MILTON, is coeditor of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, the largest interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal in the field, and faculty at the University of Phoenix and Arizona State University. She has developed a continuing education program for nurses and other health care professionals and speaks frequently on alternative and complementary healing therapies and their integration into practice and education. She has published many articles in professional journals and authored several book chapters.Dr. Milton's most recent position was as the founding director of research and education at The Arizona Center for Health and Medicine. She is an active member of Sigma Theta Tau, the international nursing honor society, and serves on the board of trustees of Nurse Healers-Professional Associates International Inc. She is an honorary member of Nurse Healers Therapeutic Touch Teachers Cooperative, a membership organization of approved Therapeutic Touch teachers. She has received awards for her teaching skills, mentorship, and contributions to research utilization in practice.Dr. Milton is a graduate of St. Vincent's Medical Center School of Nursing in Staten Island, New York. She received her baccalaureate in nursing from Fairleigh Dickinson University and her master's and doctorate in nursing from New York University. SAMUEL BENJAMIN, is director of the University Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and associate professor, Clinical Pediatrics and Family Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brook. Previously, he was the founding program director of the Arizona Center for Health and Medicine, an integrative group practice sponsored by Catholic Healthcare West. He serves on the editorial board of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine and is a sought-after speaker on alternative and integrative medicine topics.Dr. Benjamin received his medical degree from the University of Guadalajara; he studied herbal and indigenous medicine in Mexico. He completed a Fifth Pathway program at New York University Medical Center and was medical director of the first United States Urban Health Initiatives Program in the Bronx, New York. Dr. Benjamin has studied extensively in herbal and native healing therapies in Latin American and worked with the Tokyo Health Association to develop communitywide primary care programs.
