Complementary therapies, the placebo effect and the pharmacist.

Pharmacists need to know about complementary therapies so they can advise patients on their suitability, and also their compatibility with conventional drugs. This article discusses, from a pharmaceutical perspective, the types of therapies available, their applications and indications, and issues surrounding the placebo effect.

Lay perspectives of complementary medicine.

Whilst a tiny snapshot, it is clear that lay interpretations of complementary medicine vary considerably. You may wish to try this exercise to explore peoples' perceptions of this form of medicine and we would welcome responses to these questions. When practising CM it is easy to assume others share our health care perceptions and this may not always be the case.

Paradoxes, puzzles and passing time.

Whilst technology and our understanding about the world has improved, I suspect that in many ways, the hopes, fears, worries, joy and love we feel are not so different from that of our ancestors of 500 or 700 years ago, though the social circumstances may have altered. We have beliefs and dreams and daily routines in our lives and many people hang onto age old superstitions without really knowing their origins, e.g.

Therapies in practice: a survey assessing nurses' use of complementary therapies.

This paper reports the findings of an informal survey to assess nurses' use of complementary therapies within the health care setting. Increasing interest amongst the general public and health care professionals appears to have resulted in an assumption that there is currently widespread use of therapies such as massage, homoeopathy, aromatherapy, reflexology and acupuncture within the health care setting. However, to date there have been no national research studies undertaken to substantiate this assumption.

Hypnosis.

Hypnosis has considerable potential for use within nursing practice. The possible applications are wide-ranging and it is a therapy which gives clients responsibility for their own healing. Whether it can be used effectively in the clinical setting depends largely on the clients' willingness to manage their own health care; the therapist acts only as a facilitator of the healing process.

Is there a place for complementary therapies in the accident and emergency department?

This paper addresses the potential for complementary therapies in the Accident and Emergency (A & E) department. It is suggested that whilst there are a number of therapies which may be efficacious in emergency settings, nurses need to consider the broader implications of their use in the A & E department. The organisational context of the A & E department and the nature of such acute work means that complementary therapies will probably be used as therapeutic techniques rather than discrete therapeutic entities.