Does Doctor Know Best? Cultural competence is patient-centered care.

[Full article available at http://rimed.org/rimedicaljournal-2017-10.asp].

Establishing an Integrative Medicine Program Within an Academic Health Center: Essential Considerations.

Integrative medicine (IM) refers to the combination of conventional and "complementary" medical services (e.g., chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, mindfulness training).

Within-team Patterns of Communication and Referral in Multimodal Treatment of Chronic Low Back Pain Patients by an Integrative Care Team.

Background: Nonspecific chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a highly prevalent and costly public health problem with few treatment options that provide consistent and greater than modest benefits. Treatment of CLBP is shifting from unimodal to multimodal and multidisciplinary approaches, including biopsychosocially-based complementary and integrative care. Multidisciplinary approaches require unique levels of communication and coordination amongst clinicians; however, to date few studies have evaluated patterns of communication and decision making amongst clinicians collaborating in the care of challenging patients with CLBP.

Understanding patient preference for integrative medical care: results from patient focus groups.

Background: Integrative medicine (IM), a combination of conventional and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), has become a popular source of medical care, yet little is known about its use.

Objective: To identify the motivations of people who choose IM for their primary care needs.

Design: Qualitative study from focus group data of regular users of IM.

Use of complementary and alternative medical therapies among racial and ethnic minority adults: results from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey.

Purpose: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use among ethnic minority populations is poorly understood. We sought to examine CAM use in Hispanics, non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Alternative Health Supplement to the 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), including information on 19 different CAM therapies used in the past 12 months.

Children's sleep: an interplay between culture and biology.

Pediatricians provide a major source of knowledge for parents about children's behavior and development, although their advice is largely based on their own cultural values and beliefs in interaction with their personal and clinical experience. This review presents cross-cultural aspects of children's sleep behavior in industrialized and complex modern societies and provides a basis for understanding dimensions and mechanisms of cultural differences. We submit that it is the interaction between culture and biology that establishes behavioral and developmental norms and expectations regarding normal and problematic children's sleep.