Alternative, Complementary or Orthodox: What is real medicine?

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Newell ◽  
George Lewith

The division between orthodox and CAM approaches to musculoskeletal (MSK) problems is blurred. Manipulative medicine and acupuncture are recognized treatment options for some MSK conditions. These therapies are increasingly evidence based with well-defined mechanisms and are provided by a number of registered professional practitioners, whose ethics and practice is overseen and ultimately regulated, by the Professional Standards Authority. Some practitioners may be considered historically as CAM providers (Osteopaths, Chiropractors and Acupuncturists) and some orthodox practitioners (Physiotherapists and Doctors). If both CAM and orthodox practitioners are providing the same therapies for the same conditions, we believe that this represents good evidence based medical practice. Consequently in this situation, the historical and artificial boundaries between CAM and orthodox medicine cease to be meaningful either clinically or ethically.  We should reasonably assume that CAM and orthodox practitioners, in this context, are practicing ethically.

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaye E Ervin ◽  
Irene Blackberry ◽  
Helen Haines

Shared decision-making (SDM) is the process of clinicians and patients participating jointly in making healthcare decisions, having discussed evidence-based treatment options and the potential risks and benefits of each option, taking into consideration the patient’s individual preferences and values. SDM is ubiquitous in Australian healthcare policy. While there is good evidence for utilising SDM, clinicians’ knowledge of SDM, the current uptake, effectiveness and acceptability of SDM in Australia is largely unknown. The challenges perceived by clinicians to implementing SDM in clinical practice and potential moral, legal and ethical dilemmas require further debate and consideration. Abbreviations: SDM – Shared Decision-Making.


Author(s):  
Jacob Stegenga

This chapter introduces the book, describes the key arguments of each chapter, and summarizes the master argument for medical nihilism. It offers a brief survey of prominent articulations of medical nihilism throughout history, and describes the contemporary evidence-based medicine movement, to set the stage for the skeptical arguments. The main arguments are based on an analysis of the concepts of disease and effectiveness, the malleability of methods in medical research, and widespread empirical findings which suggest that many medical interventions are barely effective. The chapter-level arguments are unified by our best formal theory of inductive inference in what is called the master argument for medical nihilism. The book closes by considering what medical nihilism entails for medical practice, research, and regulation.


Author(s):  
Nicholas Rebold ◽  
Dana Holger ◽  
Sara Alosaimy ◽  
Taylor Morrisette ◽  
Michael Rybak

Author(s):  
M. A. Aljabali ◽  
L. V. Kuts

In the era of evidence-based medicine, confirming a disease by using various instrumental methods is one of the important tasks. This enables to reduce the number of diagnostic errors and to prescribe the appropriate treatment in accordance with the current views on the problem of alopecia areata in each case. Moreover, monitoring the course of the disease, data recording and their statistical processing opens up the prospect for obtaining evidence-based treatment methods. Studying the effectiveness of various treatment options and approaches including the registration of results obtained and their statistical processing is of great clinical significance. The aim of this study is to compare the efficiency of monotherapy with betamethasone injections, with platelet-rich plasma, and their combination. The venous blood of 104 patients aged (35.7 ± 8.9 years with alopecia areata was used in the study. All patients were randomly divided to three groups. The group І received intradermal injections of betamethasone (4 sessions per month). The group ІІ received intradermal injections of platelet-rich plasma once every 2 weeks for 16 weeks. The group ІІІ received 4 sessions of betamethasone which were alternated with 4 sessions of platelet-rich plasma treatment at interval of 2 weeks. The patients were examined before the treatment and in 3, 6 and 17 months. The following factors as the age, sex, smoking habit, the presence of alopecia in relatives, the duration, shape and stage of the disease, the index of the severity of alopecia and hair growth, the presence of "yellow and black dots", "conical" and terminal hair were considered in the study. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (version 22.0.). The results have shown the combination therapy allows us to obtain the best result, especially in long follow-up period.


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