July 2005

NCCAM offers online education for MDs

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is offering a new online
continuing education series for the medical community on complementary
and alternative medicine.

This lecture series offers healthcare professionals and the public the
opportunity to learn more about complementary and alternative medicine
(CAM) therapies and the state-of-the-science about them through video
lectures by leading experts in this field.

Medical doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals can earn
continuing medical education (CME) credits. Users who complete all the
test chapters can generate an online certificate.

The CME series is free and can be viewed at
nccam.nih.gov/videolectures.

With 62 percent of the American public using CAM, from dietary
supplements to chiropractic, there is not only a great need to inform
conventional and CAM health care professionals, but also to provide
the public with information they can use to make decisions about their
healthcare options," said Stephen E. Straus, MD, NCCAM director. "This
CME series is a valuable addition to the other resources on the NCCAM
Web site."

The series currently has six different lectures. Each lecture includes
an overview of the CAM area, a review of research results and ongoing
research, and discussion of the historical and practice perspectives.

CAM topics covered are:

Overview of Complementary and alternative medicine;
Herbs and other dietary supplements;
Mind-body medicine;
Acupuncture: An evidence-Based assessment;
Manipulative and body-based therapies: Chiropractic and spinal
manipulation;
Complementary and alternative medicine and aging.
Each lecture includes:

A video lecture by a scientific expert;
The lecture transcript;
An online test that can be taken to receive CME credits (credits for
nurses will be added soon);
Additional resource links.

Source: National Institutes for Health, National Center for
Complementary and Alternative Medicine, www.nih.gov