Program teaches complementary and alternative medicine

A program that teaches future health care professionals about the benefits and risks of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is accepting applications for 2005-06.

The U-M Integrative Medicine Faculty Fellows Program, now in its fourth year, was created with a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2000. Next year's group will be the fourth and final to be funded with the NIH grant.

The yearlong program is a multidisciplinary development effort that includes faculty from the schools of Medicine, Public Health, Dentistry, Social Work, Natural Resources & Environment, Nursing, Business, Art & Design and Music; and LSA, College of Pharmacy and the Division of Kinesiology.

Deadline for the 2005-06 program is April 22. U-M Integrative Medicine, formerly the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research Center, will choose eight faculty scholars.

The scholars meet monthly to learn about theoretical principles, clinical practices, and evidence related to complementary, alternative and integrative therapies, which can include things such as yoga, homeopathic medicine, vitamins, massage and acupuncture.

"They have an opportunity to discuss topics with colleagues who they might not have contact with," says Rita Benn, director of education at Integrative Medicine. She co-developed the curriculum with Dr. Sara Warber, program co-director.

"It forms a basis for future research and collaboration," Benn says. "We try to get a mix of scholars from the medical school and faculty from the professional schools, so it's truly an interdisciplinary effort. It has been a highlight for the scholars to have a sharing of information among the various disciplines.

"This program is transformational, both professional and personally, for the scholars. It's renewing for them to learn something new altogether."

About 40 percent of patients use some form of complementary and alternative medicine every year for mental health or chronic pain. More than 70 percent of them don't discuss it with their physicians. Benn says physicians, nutritionists and public health educators need to help patients be aware of benefits and risks associated with alternative treatments.

The purpose of the multi-disciplinary Faculty Scholars Program is to enhance the faculty resources that can be devoted to teaching, research and clinical care in the emerging field of integrative health care.

Scholars attend 10 full-day sessions held on the second Friday of each month from September through June. Each session highlights prevalent complementary, alternative, and integrative approaches to particular health problems and issues. All sessions include didactic explanations of CAM, hands-on demonstrations and live patient stories, nutrition and healthy eating information, experiential practices, exploration of innovative methods to teach CAM, nuts and bolts of effective curriculum development, and time for small group sharing and reflection.

Program session topics include cultural context of integrative health care, mind-body medicine, alternative medical systems, cardiovascular disease and integrative medicine, chronic pain and integrative medicine, cancer and integrative medicine, integrative approaches to mental health and spiritual healing, herbs and homeopathy, integrative healthcare and systems change.

Program participants are required to either create an educational element related to CAM in their courses or develop a specific educational application in the curriculum of the school or department in which they work. Examples of projects include a new course in the School of Public Health on herbs and dietary supplements, a three-week module on CAM in a psychology course on aging, and a series of resident lectures on spirituality and meditation.

For more information about the program, contact Benn at (734) 998-7715 or e-mail ritabenn@umich.edu.

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