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Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), is defined as "a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine....The list of what is considered to be CAM changes continually, as those therapies that are proven to be safe and effective become adopted into conventional health care and as new approaches to health care emerge."*

This guide is intended as an introduction, to direct readers to sources to begin research.
See also Library Guide to Health Resources
http://library.nyu.edu/research/health/


*Get the Facts: What Is Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)? http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/#1

Searching in Library Catalogs


You can find books and journals by searching the library catalog, Bobcat, at:
http://www.bobcat.nyu.edu/ by subject under appropriate Library of Congress Subject Headings. (Additional sources may be found at NYU Medical Library's catalog, MEDCat at: http://medcat.nyu.edu/ ).

Some subject headings are:

  • Alternative medicine
Call number range: R733 and BREF9 R733

Used for books on general aspects of complementary and alternative medicine, historical treatment, clinical research, consumer health information, and vocational guidance.

Or a more specific search:
  • Alternative medicine--Social aspects
  • Alternative medicine--Dictionaries
  • Alternative medicine--History

Other subject headings to consider:
  • Holistic medicine
  • Traditional medicine
  • Herbs
  • Holistic nursing

Or a more specific search:
  • Holistic nursing--Standards
  • Holistic nursing--Handbooks, manuals, etc
  • Herbs--Therapeutic use

Selected Reading

  • Anderson, Mary A. 2003. Caring for older adults holistically. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: F.A. Davis Co.
    Bobst RC954 .A53 2003
  • Burton Goldberg Group. 1999. Alternative medicine : the definitive guide. Tiburon, CA: Future Medicine Publishing.
    REF9 R733 .A476 1999
  • Charman, Robert A. 2000. Complementary therapies for physical therapists. Oxford ; Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann.
    Bobst R733 .C6557 2000
  • Cherniack, P., and Cherniack, Neil S. 2003. Alternative medicine for the elderly. Berlin ; New York: Springer.
    Bobst R733 .A46558 2003
  • Feuerman, Francine, and Handel, Marsha J. 1997. Alternative medicine resource guide. Lanham, Md.: Medical Library Association : Scarecrow Press.
    Bobst REF9 R733 .F48 1997
  • Freeman, Lynda W., and Lawlis, G.F. 2001. Mosby's complementary & alternative medicine : a research-based approach. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby.
    Bobst R733.F743 2001
  • Huebscher, Roxana, and Shuler, Pamela A. 2003. Natural, alternative, and complementary health care practices. St. Louis, Mo.: London: Mosby.
    Bobst REF9 R733 .H84 2003
  • Johnston, Robert D. 2004. The politics of healing: histories of alternative medicine in twentieth-century North America. New York: Routledge.
    Bobst R733 .P65 2004
  • Libster, Martha. 2002. Delmar's integrative herb guide for nurses. Albany, NY: Delmar Thomson Learning.
    Bobst REF9 RM666.H33 L634 2002
  • Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 2002. Nurse's handbook of alternative & complementary therapies. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
    Bobst REF9 R733 .N87 2002
  • Medical Economics Company. 2000. PDR for herbal medicines. 2nd ed. Montvale, NJ: Medical Economics Company.
    Bobst REF9 RM666.H33 P37 2000
  • Peters, David. 2002. Integrating complementary therapies in primary care : a practical guide for health professionals. Edinburgh ; New York: Churchill Livingstone.
    Bobst R733 .I573 2002
  • Rakel, David. 2003. Integrative medicine. Philadelphia: Saunders.
    Bobst R733 .I5755 2003
  • Rees, Alan M. 2001. The complementary and alternative medicine information source book. 1st ed. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press.
    Bobst REF9 R733 .C66 2001
  • Rotblatt, Michael, and Ziment, Irwin. 2002. Evidence-based herbal medicine. Philadelphia: Hanley & Belfus.
    Bobst REF9 RM666.H33 E95 2002
  • Snyder, Mariah, and Lindquist, Ruth. 2002. Complementary / alternative therapies in nursing. 4th ed. New York: Springer Pub. Co.
    Bobst RT41 .I53 2002
  • Springhouse Corporation. 1999. Professional's handbook of complementary & alternative medicines.
    REF9 R733 .P76
  • Woodham, Anne, and Peters, David. 1997. DK encyclopedia of healing therapies. 1st American ed. London ; New York: DK Pub.
    Bobst REF9 R733 .W65 1997
Bibliographic Databases (for finding journal articles)

Note: The use of certain databases and information services is restricted to NYU students and faculty using NetID and password. For information about remote access using the NYU proxy server, please follow the browser configuration instructions at: http://library.nyu.edu/help/proxy.html

  • Medline 1966-present
    [nyu.edu account users only]. Non-NYU users may access Medline at the National Library of Medicine (PubMed): http://www.pubmed.gov/. Subjects covered include all aspects of clinical medicine (diseases and disorders, diagnostic and therapeutic techniques and equipment), basic biomedical sciences (anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, genetics, microbiology and pharmacology) as well as nursing, dentistry and clinical psychology.
    Read scope notes for various alternate therapies listed under "Complementary Therapies." The notes contain MESH subject headings and provide descriptions as well as related subject terms for further searching. Can apply limits such as "Complementary Medicine," "Evidence Based Medicine Reviews" and "Core Clinical Journals."

     

  • PubMed's Complementary Medicine Subset: Search Strategy Used to Create CAM
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/pubmed_subsets/comp_med_strategy.html
    Provides subject headings to facilitate searching in the area of complementary and alternative medicine. This subset can also be used in a search as cam [sb]. Example: osteoarthritis AND cam [sb]

     

  • CINAHL Plus 1982-present (Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature) [nyu.edu account users only].
    Indexes over 1200 journals and publications related to nursing, physical therapy, health education, social service/healthcare, occupational therapy, and related disciplines. Provides online abstracts for more than 800 of these titles. Full text coverage from 1995 to the present is available for selected journals.

    Read scope notes for various alternate therapies listed under "Alternative Therapies." The notes contain MESH subject headings and provide descriptions as well as related subject terms for further searching.


    Sample search strategy for articles on arthritis and alternative therapies:

    exp alternative therapies/ AND exp arthritis/

    yields articles covering the topic alternative/complementary therapies AND articles tagged for all types of arthritis.

     

  • Alt HealthWatch
    [nyu.edu account users only].
    Alt HealthWatch focuses on the many perspectives of complementary, holistic and integrated approaches to health care and wellness. This database provides full text for articles, from more than 140 international and often peer-reviewed reports, proceedings as well as association and consumer newsletters. In addition, includes hundreds of pamphlets, booklets, special reports, original research and book excerpts.

     

  • Embase
    [nyu.edu account users only]
    Produced by Elsevier Science, Embase is a major biomedical and pharmaceutical database indexing over 3,500 international journals with selective coverage for alternative medicine. Read scope notes for various alternate therapies listed under "Alternative Medicine." The notes contain MESH subject headings and provide descriptions as well as related subject terms for further searching.

     

  • Proquest Direct (Periodical Abstracts)
    [nyu.edu accounts only]
    A multi-disciplinary resource, especially useful for research on contemporary topics or for the beginning stages of a research project. Offers citations from a wide range of English language academic journals, news magazines, and the latest six months of New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Search for articles by entering the term "alternative medicine" in the "Topic Guide." Can also narrow by related topic to see additional terms related to alternative medicine. Results can be limited to scholarly journals, including peer-reviewed.

     

  • Health Reference Center Academic [nyu.edu account users only]
    Integrates the full text and images of respected nursing, allied health, and medical journals; consumer health magazines; newsletters; pamphlets; newspaper articles; topical overviews; and reference books into an easy to use database. Search for the topic "alternative medicine" in the "Subject Guide" and browse "see also" for related topics or "narrow" for subdivisions.

  • Natural Standard: The Authority on Integrative Medicine [nyu.edu account users only] Provides evidence-based information about complementary and alternative therapies. Contains three sub-databases: Herbs & Supplements, Condition Center,and Complementary Practices. Information is incorporated into comprehensive monographs which are designed to facilitate clinical decision making. All monographs undergo blinded editorial and peer review prior to inclusion in Natural Standard databases. Levels of scientific evidence scales are used to evaluate the quality of available evidence.
E-Texts
  • PIER: The Physicians' Information and Education Resource via STAT!REF [nyu.edu account users only]
    PIER (Physicians' Information and Education Resource) is a Web-based decision-support tool designed for rapid point-of-care delivery of up-to-date, evidence-based guidance for clinicians. Find authoritative, evidence-based guidance to improve clinical care.

    From the Table of Contents tab at top of screen, select "ACP's Pier: The Physicians' Information and Education Resource." Subtopics listed include: "Complementary and Alternative Medicine," "Disciplines," and "Therapies for Specific Diseases.

  • Ebrary
    [nyu.edu account users only]
    ebrary is an electronic, full text collection of over 30,000 current books from the world's leading scientific, academic and reference publishers. Select the "simple" search strategy at top left of screen and type "alternative medicine" to browse available titles. By selecting the "advanced" search strategy, one can combine keywords or phrases as well as search by author, title or subject heading.
    Bobcat's search strategy for searching specific ebrary titles:

*From the Keyword Search screen in Bobcat, combine related name=ebrary with subject, title, author or keywords.


Selected Journals for Browsing

Web Sites

  • Alternative Medicine Health Care Information Resources
    http://hsl.mcmaster.ca/tomflem/altmed.html
    Tom Fleming, the Health Sciences Librarian at McMasters University provides an extensive list of general resources and links pertaining to specific topics in alternative medicine.

     

  • American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA)
    http://www.ahna.org
    A non-profit educational organization open to nurses and health care professionals who are interested in holistic health care. The site contains information about AHNA endorsed programs, certification, events and conferences.

     

  • Bandolier: Evidenced Based Thinking about Healthcare
    http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/booths/altmed.html
    The site brings together the best evidence available about complementary and alternative therapies for consumers and professionals. It contains stories, systematic reviews and meta-analyses of complementary and alternative therapies with abstracts.

     

  • HIV/AIDS Alternative and Complementary Therapy
    http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/hiv.html
    From the NLM's Specialized Information Services, this site provides consumer health information on HIV/AIDS alternative and complementary therapies. Includes fact sheets from the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and information from the National Library of Medicine's Medline Plus.

     

  • MEDLINE plus: Alternative Medicine
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/alternativemedicine.html
    The National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus can assist consumers and professionals with locating authoritative health information on alternative medicine.
    Search MEDLINE for research articles by scrolling to "Search MEDLINE for recent research articles on Alternative Medicine." Can also search for various alternative therapy topics which includes: cancer alternative therapy, herbal medicine, acupuncture and dietary supplements: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/complementaryandalternativetherapies.html

     

  • National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
    http://nccam.nih.gov
    NCCAM is dedicated to exploring complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science, training complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) researchers, and disseminating authoritative information to the public and professionals.

     

  • The New York Academy of Medicine Links to Complementary & Alternative Medicine http://www.nyam.org/resources/alternative.shtml

     

  • New York Online Access to Health (NOAH)
    http://www.noah-health.org/en/alternative/index.html
    NOAH offers this selection of complementary and alternative therapies without endorsement.

     

  • Office of Cancer Complementary Alternative Medicine
    http://www3.cancer.gov/occam/
    The NIH, National Cancer Institute (NCI) Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM) was established in October 1998 to coordinate and enhance the activities of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the arena of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Last updated: September, 2007



 




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