Impact of the Integrative Oncology Scholars Program on Oncology Providers' Key Knowledge of Dietary Supplements and Antioxidants for Providing Evidence-based Oncology Care.

Dietary supplements are commonly used among cancer survivors. Oncology providers rarely receive training about dietary supplements. We evaluated whether e-learning modules could improve oncology providers' dietary supplement knowledge.

Integrative Oncology Education: An Emerging Competency for Oncology Providers.

A growing number of cancer patients use complementary and alternative therapies during and after conventional cancer treatment. Patients are often reluctant to discuss these therapies with their oncologist, and oncologists may have limited knowledge and confidence on how to advise patients on the appropriate use. Integrative oncology is a patient-centered, evidence-informed field that utilizes mind-body practices, lifestyle modifications and/or natural products interwoven with conventional cancer treatment.

Integrative Oncology Scholars Program: A Model for Integrative Oncology Education.

Objectives: Oncology providers are often confronted by patients who use complementary or alternative therapies, but have limited knowledge or confidence on how to advise patients on appropriate use. Despite this, there are few opportunities for oncology providers to learn about complementary or alternative therapies, while at the same time there is a high demand for integrative oncology (IO) training. To address a gap in IO educational opportunities, and particularly for nonphysicians, we created the Integrative Oncology Scholars (IOS) Program.

Public Health and Preventive Medicine Meet Integrative Health: Applications of Competency Mapping to Curriculum Education at the University of Michigan.

The University of Michigan School of Public Health Preventive Medicine Residency (UMSPH PMR) Integrative Medicine Program (IMP) was developed to incorporate integrative medicine (IM), public health, and preventive medicine principles into a comprehensive curriculum for preventive medicine residents and faculty. The objectives of this project were to (1) increase the preventive medicine workforce skill sets based in complementary and alternative medicine and IM that would address individual and population health issues; (2) address the increasing demand for evidence-based IM by training physicians to implement cost-effective primary and secondary prevention services and programs; and (3) share lessons learned, curriculum evaluations, and best practices with the larger cohort of funded IM PMR programs. The UMSPH PMR collaborated with University of Michigan IM faculty to incorporate existing IM competencies with those already established for preventive medicine and public health residency training as the first critical step for IMP curriculum integration.

Resident wellness behaviors: relationship to stress, depression, and burnout.

Background And Objectives: Stress in medical education has been well documented, often with the primary focus on negative factors such as depression and burnout. Few studies have attempted to assess well-being mediating behaviors. This study describes the relationship between wellness behaviors and measures of well-being at the start of family medicine residency.

Integrative medicine in residency education: developing competency through online curriculum training.

Introduction: The Integrative Medicine in Residency (IMR) program, a 200-hour Internet-based, collaborative educational initiative was implemented in 8 family medicine residency programs and has shown a potential to serve as a national model for incorporating training in integrative/complementary/alternative medicine in graduate medical education.

Intervention: The curriculum content was designed based on a needs assessment and a set of competencies for graduate medical education developed following the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education outcome project guidelines. The content was delivered through distributed online learning and included onsite activities.

Mindfulness training effects for parents and educators of children with special needs.

Parents and teachers of children with special needs face unique social-emotional challenges in carrying out their caregiving roles. Stress associated with these roles impacts parents' and special educators' health and well-being, as well as the quality of their parenting and teaching. No rigorous studies have assessed whether mindfulness training (MT) might be an effective strategy to reduce stress and cultivate well-being and positive caregiving in these adults.

Integrative medicine in residency: assessing curricular needs in eight programs.

Background And Objectives: Integrative medicine in residency (IMR) is a competency-based online program designed to incorporate a core curriculum in integrative medicine (IM) into established residency training in family medicine. Results of a needs assessment survey developed to guide this curriculum design are presented and discussed.

Methods: Faculty and residents from eight self-selected family medicine programs that agreed to pilot the IMR were invited to complete an online needs assessment survey.

Evaluating CAM education in health professions programs.

As medical, nursing, and allied health programs integrate complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) content into existing curricula, they face many of the same challenges to assessment and evaluation as do more traditional aspects of health professions education, namely, (1) specifying measurable objectives, (2) identifying valid indicators, and (3) evaluating the attainment of desired outcomes. Based on the experiences of 14 National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) education grant recipients funded between 2000 and 2003, the authors cite selected examples to illustrate strengths and deficits to "mainstreaming" CAM content into established health professions curricula, including subjecting it to rigorous, systematic evaluation. In addition to offering recommendations for more strenuously evaluating key CAM-related educational outcomes, the authors discuss related attitudes, knowledge, and skills and how these, like other aspects of health professions training, may result in enhanced patient care through modifications in clinical (provider) behaviors.

Integrating complementary and alternative medicine instruction into health professions education: organizational and instructional strategies.

A few years ago, the National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine funded a program called the Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Education Project. Grantees were 14 medical and nursing schools and the American Medical Student Association, which funded six additional medical schools. Grants were awarded in cohorts of five per year in 2000, 2001, and 2002-2003.

The experience of transcendental meditation in middle school students: a qualitative report.

Background: Transcendental Meditation (TM), a sitting meditation technique designed to quiet the mind and induce physical and mental relaxation, has been widely studied in adults.

Objective: Our objective was to explore systematically the first-person experience of young adolescents who practice TM.

Design: A descriptive, qualitative study using semistructured interviews.

Core competencies in integrative medicine for medical school curricula: a proposal.

The authors present a set of curriculum guidelines in integrative medicine for medical schools developed during 2002 and 2003 by the Education Working Group of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine (CAHCIM) and endorsed by the CAHCIM Steering Committee in May 2003. CAHCIM is a consortium of 23 academic health centers working together to help transform health care through rigorous scientific studies, new models of clinical care, and innovative educational programs that integrate biomedicine, the complexity of human beings, the intrinsic nature of healing, and the rich diversity of therapeutic systems. Integrative medicine can be defined as an approach to the practice of medicine that makes use of the best-available evidence taking into account the whole person (body, mind, and spirit), including all aspects of lifestyle.

Bridging CAM practice and research: teaching CAM practitioners about research methodology.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is continuing to provide funds directed to support research in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). CAM providers typically have insufficient knowledge of scientific language or research methodology to develop rigorous proposals. Their ability to contribute meaningfully as advisors, teachers, or research partners in academic settings, is hence limited.