Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Aug 15:12:123.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-12-123.

Pediatric integrative medicine: pediatrics' newest subspecialty?

Sunita Vohra  1 , Soleil Surette, Deepika Mittra, Lawrence D Rosen, Paula Gardiner, Kathi J Kemper
Affiliations

Pediatric integrative medicine: pediatrics' newest subspecialty?

Sunita Vohra et al. BMC Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: Integrative medicine is defined as relationship-centered care that focuses on the whole person, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches, healthcare professionals and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing, including evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine. Pediatric integrative medicine (PIM) develops and promotes this approach within the field of pediatrics. We conducted a survey to identify and describe PIM programs within academic children's hospitals across North America. Key barriers and opportunities were identified for the growth and development of academic PIM initiatives in the US and Canada.

Methods: Academic PIM programs were identified by email and eligible for inclusion if they had each of educational, clinical, and research activities. Program directors were interviewed by telephone regarding their clinical, research, educational, and operational aspects.

Results: Sixteen programs were included. Most (75%) programs provided both inpatient and outpatient services. Seven programs operated with less than 1 FTE clinical personnel. Credentialing of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) providers varied substantially across the programs and between inpatient and outpatient services. Almost all (94%) programs offered educational opportunities for residents in pediatrics and/or family medicine. One fifth (20%) of the educational programs were mandatory for medical students. Research was conducted in a range of topics, but half of the programs reported lack of research funding and/or time. Thirty-one percent of the programs relied on fee-for-service income.

Conclusions: Pediatric integrative medicine is emerging as a new subspecialty to better help address 21st century patient concerns.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of included academic pediatric integrative medicine programs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. What Is Complementary and Alternative Medicine? [NCCAM CAM Basics] http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/overview.htm.
    1. Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine. http://www.imconsortium.org/cahcim/home.html.
    1. Engel GL. The need for a new medical model: a challenge for biomedicine. Science. 1977;196(4286):129–136. doi: 10.1126/science.847460. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barnes PM, Bloom B. Complementary and alternative medicine use among adults and children. United States: National Health Statistics; 2007. 2008. December 10, 2008. - PubMed
    1. Kemper KJ, Vohra S, Walls R. Task Force on Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Provisional Section on Complementary, Holistic, and Integrative Medicine: The use of complementary and alternative medicine in pediatrics. Pediatrics. 2008;122(6):1374–1386. doi: 10.1542/peds.2008-2173. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms