Are doctors keeping up with the game?

Many forms of indigenous (traditional) medicines have found new homes from across the oceans. North American Indians have introduced Echinacea to Europe; Asian herbal medicine is one of the fastest growing forms of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Australia; and acupuncture is “old hat” in New York and Paris. In its various shapes CAM is a global phenomenon that has diffused into some facet of every nation’s health care system and influences many aspects of health care behavior. Consumers are now interested in and demand access to functional foods, dietary supplements, and effective natural medicines. As consumption levels of these products increase, consumers demand quality from manufacturers and evidence of safety and effectiveness from researchers. They insist that government regulators continue to make these health care products available and, increasingly, that medical practitioners be aware of and have adequate information on CAM relevant to their needs. The buying power of consumers does,in fact, drive and promote products and interventions that are proven safe, effective, and high quality and that compel a degree of integration into conventional health care practice. The burden is on medical practitioners to be sufficiently informed and capable of providing sensible support to CAM users. The question is, are medical practitioners keeping up with the game?