PHE 283 Intro to Alternative Medicine Resources
Interview: Evidence Based Resources and How to Find Them
Your instructor chats with COCC librarian Michele DeSilva about the finding evidence-based resources. You'll learn about the types of evidence and how to find them through the COCC Library, using your course's LibGuide.
Complementary & Alternative Medicine: The Evidence
- Quiz on Complementary Health TermsUse this 6-question quiz to check your understanding of complementary health terms.
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
This will be one of the primary sources for this class and exemplifies the evidence-based approach.
- Country Profiles: International Health Care System ProfilesFrom The Commonwealth Fund, full profiles of international health systems describing the role of government, how systems are organized and financed, who and what is covered, and what is being done to ensure quality of care, reduce disparities, and promote care coordination.
- KFFFormerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, KFF is independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism whose mission is to serve as a nonpartisan source of information for policymakers, the media, the health policy community, and the public.
eBooks
Primary Textbook
Healing Ways by Publication Date: 2015Provides a comprehensive review of alternative medicine, and how it can supplement traditional medical approaches to disease.
Optional Textbook
Consumer Health and Integrative Medicine by ISBN: 9781284144123Publication Date: 2020Consumer Health and Integrative Medicine: Holistic View of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practices includes chapters on the major alternative medicine systems and healing modalities, including Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, naturopathy, homeopathic medicine, chiropractic medicine, massage, reflexology, and herbals or botanicals. Access is limited to 3 users at any one time.
Evidence Based Resources
- Herbs and SupplementsFrom MedlinePlus, an A-Z list of herbs and supplements, including information about their effectiveness, usual dosage, and drug interactions.
- Evidence-Based Medicine: ReviewsFrom the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), this resource provides access to recent reviews, including systematic reviews and meta-analyses, on a variety of diseases, herbal remedies, and CAM treatments, organized alphabetically.
Why Reviews Matter
Reviews are very important in the evidence-based practice space. Reviews belong to a type of literature called "secondary literature," which synthesize, filter and evaluate the primary literature (clinical trials, cohort studies, etc.).
A major benefit of reviews is that they save the health care provider and consumer time. Imagine being able to read one article that summarizes several research studies on a topic and emphasizes the most important points, instead of having to read 10-12 separate research articles yourself and do the summary/synthesis work yourself, and you can appreciate the work reviewers do.
While they may be referred to as literature reviews, you'll especially want to find two types of reviews when making evidence-based decisions:
- Systematic Reviews: Start with a clearly articulated question and use explicit and rigorous methods. They include a description of how primary data sources and articles are found and selected for inclusion. They critically appraise the found evidence by assessing their validity, reliability, and other measures of quality. Finally, Systematic Reviews combine and analyze the results of this evidence to synthesize it into an evidence based review.
- Meta-Analyses: Similar to Systematic Reviews; they include a specific methodologic and statistical technique for combining quantitative data. They provide an evidence based overview of multiple studies with combined quantitative analysis.
Source: Adapted from University of Illinois Chicago. Library of the Health Sciences. Evidence Based Medicine. https://researchguides.uic.edu/ebm. Used under a CC BY-NC license.
- Citing Sources: APAQuick help and resource links for all your APA citation needs.
- Library HelpLost? Confused? Not finding the sources you need? Contact a librarian! Whether you have a quick question or need a more in-depth appointment, we have options for you.
