Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Annotations:

• Alternative Medicine: Approach to health and medicine currently considered outside the realm of convertional medicine and clinical practice which replaces conventional medicine. Complementary medicine: More like complementary therapy.

Annotations:

• Not anecdotes. It has to go thru the approval of TGA (aussie version of FDA) Need to demonstrate: Safety Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Efficacy (not required to demonstrate, but just need to give data whenever required) Post market surveillance Advertising

Annotations:

• 4 steps: 1.Formulate a clear clinical question form patient's problem 2. Search literature for relevant clinical articles 3. Evaluate evidence for validity and usefulness 4. Implement useful findings in clinical practice

1. Obstacles

   Annotations:

   • Methodological Obstacles such as randomized trials for herbal therapies. Ethical obstacles
2. Toxicity and Side Effects

   Annotations:

   • Side effects are mostly due to intrinsic or extrinsic (GMP) Sometimes, delayed treatment could led to worse outcomes.