Assignment: Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Assignment: Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Assignment: Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Define complementary and alternative medicine. Choose one example of complementary and alternative medicine. Describe the nurse practitioner’s role in utilizing your chosen complementary and alternative medicine. Support your answer with evidence-based research.

ORDER A CUSTOMIZED, PLAGIARISM-FREE Assignment: Complementary and Alternative Medicine HERE

Good News For Our New customers . We can write this assignment for you and pay after Delivery. Our Top -rated medical writers will comprehensively review instructions , synthesis external evidence sources(Scholarly) and customize a quality assignment for you. We will also attach a copy of plagiarism report alongside and AI report. Feel free to chat Us

A Sample Of This Assignment Written By One Of Our Top-rated Writers

Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM)

The terms complementary and alternative medicine or CAM have been used to refer to treatment practices that do not fall under the standard or conventional medical practices as we know them. They are treatments that do not have a solid scientific backing for efficacy and therefore do not form evidence-based practice or EBP. However, they have been used for so long that trust in their efficacy is based on anecdotal evidence handed down from generation to generation (CDC, 2021). It so happens that CAM treatments are mostly composed of ancient traditional Chinese herbal and other practices for treating illness and injury. Integrative medicine is the practice that has been exercised that makes use of both CAM and conventional medical practice to try and solve recalcitrant medical problems such as cancer treatment (National Cancer Institute, 2022). According to the National Cancer Institute, these CAM treatments include yoga, meditation, massage therapy, hypnosis, acupuncture, qigong, biofeedback, use of natural products such as herbs and botanicals, reflexology, chiropractic therapy, tai chi, and ayurvedic medicine (from India) amongst others. The purpose of this paper is to define CAM and to look at one of the CAM practices as well as the role of the nurse practitioner in using it on patients.

Defining Complementary and Alternative Medicine or CAM

As has been noted in the introduction above, CAM is a treatment practice that is not part of conventional medical practice. In other words, the practice does not form part of mainstream medicine. However, it is now used more and more by practitioners to manage ailments such as cancer and other chronic illnesses. This is especially true in scenarios of medical futility such as terminal cancer (National Cancer Institute, 2022). The practice is in two distinct divisions as the title implies. Complementary medicine is used to supplement conventional treatments in a practice known as integrative medicine. On the other hand, alternative medicine is medical practices that are not conventional and that are used to replace standard or conventional medical practices (CDC, 2021). These CAM treatments have found use in situations such as those of medical futility (as in terminal cancer) where there s need to give the patient hope and show them that nothing is being done despite the hopelessness. The use of CAM in these circumstances is also the result of respecting the patient’s autonomy and preferences.

Acupuncture as a Form of Complementary and Alternative Medical Practice

Acupuncture is an ancient treatment practice based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that also used diet, meditation, massage, exercise, and herbal concoctions to restore wellness. In it, clean needles are used to puncture what are known as acupuncture points or acupoints in the body. Pressure and heat is also applied at the same time. Studies have shown that indeed acupuncture is effective in relieving symptoms such as nausea and vomiting that are brought about by anti-cancer agents (National Cancer Institute, 2020). The different kinds of acupuncture that have also been proven to relieve fatigue, numbness (Cho & Kim, 2021), hot flushes, and dry mouth include laser acupuncture, auricular acupuncture, acupressure, and electro-acupuncture amongst others.

Nurse Practitioner’s Role in Using Acupuncture

The role of the nurse practitioner (NP) in using acupuncture to manage patients is limited to referring the patient to a practitioner who has competencies and experience in the use of acupuncture as a CAM. In the spirit of interprofessional collaboration, the NP who is treating a cancer patient would for instance consider a consult with an acupuncturist to see if the therapy can help their patient with nausea and vomiting. This consult may also consider the complete range of TCM that also includes herbal extracts, exercise, and diet together with acupuncture (Dimitrelis et al., 2017). All this is in a bid to have the NP respect the ethical principle of autonomy as well as beneficence with respect to the patient’s holistic care.

Acupuncture is a safe procedure and there is scholarly evidence to show that it is effective especially in cases where conventional medical interventions are inadequate like in cancer. Therefore, the NP also has a role to educate and reassure the patient and relatives about its safety profile. On allergy, the NP can warn the patient that there are few cases that show mild allergic reaction especially at the points where the needles are put. But this is random just like happens with conventional medicine too. In actual fact, it has been known that acupuncture itself relieves symptoms of allergy and eczema. Lastly, acupuncture is one procedure that carries very little risk of side effects. For this reason, the NP does not have to be overly concerned about its negative effects which are hardly there.

Conclusion

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) refers to treatment practices that do not conform to standard or conventional medical practice. They include acupuncture that is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM. They have been used extensively in areas such as cancer management to relieve symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and pain.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] (May 12, 2021). Complementary and alternative medicine. https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/survivors/patients/complementary-alternative-medicine.htm

Cho, E., & Kim, W. (2021). Effect of acupuncture on diabetic neuropathy: A narrative review. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(16), 8575-8595. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22168575

Dimitrelis, S., Perry, L., Gallagher, R., Duffield, C., Sibbritt, D., Nicholls, R., and Xu, X.             (2017). Does nurses’ role, health or symptoms influence their personal use of        ingestible complementary and alternative medicines? Complementary Therapies in       Medicine, 35, 39-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2017.08.017

National Cancer Institute (March 21, 2022). Complementary and alternative medicine. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam#:~:text=Complementary%20and%20alternative%20medicine%20(CAM)%20is%20the%20term%20for%20medical,as%20nausea%2C%20pain%2C%20and%20fatigue

National Cancer Institute (November 12, 2020). Acupuncture (PDQ®)–Patient Version. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/patient/acupuncture-pdq