Consumer Health Minute: Complementary and Integrative Health

Posted by Carolyn Martin on December 4th, 2024 Posted in: Consumer Health, News from NNLM Region 5, Training & Education
Tags: complementary health, consumer health, health information, libraries, online education

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Many people take care of their health through treatments and practices either with or without using current medical practices and they do so for various reasons such as lack of access to medical care, costs, personal preferences, past experiences, cultural, curiosity. In fact, a recent study in the medical journal, JAMA, found that there has been a significant increase in the use of complementary medicine use, especially to help with pain.

Complementary. Alternative. Integrative. These terms may be unfamiliar and confusing. The NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) offers some definitions on their website.

• If a non-mainstream approach is used together with conventional medicine, it’s considered “complementary.”
• If a non-mainstream approach is used in place of conventional medicine, it’s considered “alternative.”
• Integrative health brings conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way.

Your patrons and clients may have questions about some of these various options. Keep in mind we can’t give medical advice or recommendations but we can offer them some great resources and encourage them to talk to medical professionals.

NNLM has an upcoming class focusing on complementary and integrative health where you can learn more about this topic.

Exploring Complementary and Integrative Health: Information, Resources, and Evaluation

An asynchronous Moodle class, January 13 – 30, 2025

This class will explore the definitions of Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH), encompassing both Eastern and Western medicine perspectives. We will delve into various approaches to CIH, discussing their associated risks and benefits. We will also equip you with strategies to help your users discern trustworthy CIH information and avoid fraudulent claims.

Both the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health have some resources on this topic that you can refer to as well as offer to the public.

• MedlinePlus Complementary and Integrative Medicine
• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
• Office of Dietary Supplements