Marginal to Mainstream (Paperback)

Mary Ruggie

ISBN 10: 0521542227 / ISBN 13: 9780521542227

Published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004

About this Item

Paperback. Millions of Americans are using complementary and alternative medicine and spending billions of dollars, out-of-pocket, for it. Why? Do the therapies work? Are they safe? Are any covered by insurance? How is the medical profession responding to the growing use of therapies that were only recently thought of as quackery? These are some of the many questions asked and answered in this book. It describes a transformation in the status of alternative medicine within health care. Paving the way toward legitimacy is research currently underway and funded by the National Institutes of Health. This research is proving the safety and efficacy of certain therapies and the harm or inefficacy of others. While some therapies will remain alternative to conventional medicine, others are becoming complementary, and still others are busting the boundaries and contributing to a new approach to health and healing called integrative medicine. This book explains how research is legitimizing CAM in the eyes of physicians and facilitating its mainstreaming into health care. It explains what CAM is from the standpoint of informal knowledge, based on experience, beliefs and values, and formal knowledge based on science. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780521542227

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Marginal to Mainstream (Paperback)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521542227
• ISBN 13: 9780521542227
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: new

About this title

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.

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.