Reference no: EM133503910
Question: Define complementary and alternative medicine. Choose one example of complementary and alternative medicine. Describe the nurse practioner's role in utilizing your chosen complementary and alternative medicine. Support your answer with evidence-based research.
Case Sudy: The United States culture is varied due to immigrants from different countries with varying beliefs, cultures, backgrounds, and value systems. This brings about various medical treatments and the integration of different treatment modalities. Most of these treatments are approved and backed by evidence.
"(Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), 2019)" defines complementary medicine as "treatments that are used along with standard medical treatments but are not considered to be the conventional treatment" (para.1). According to "CAM" (2019), alternative medicine is "treatments that are used instead of standard medical treatments" (para. 3). It is estimated that 4 out of 10 U.S adults use complementary and alternative medical therapies.
The use of CAM parallels the comprehensive or holistic approach to healthcare. They are multifaceted and focus on health, well-being, and disease prevention. CAM use involves environmental, genetic, emotional, spiritual, physical, and social factors. Examples of CAM include therapeutic massage, aromatherapy, yoga, guided imagery, acupuncture, and meditation. I will be discussing therapeutic massage.
Massage therapy is the manipulation of soft tissue to alleviate pain, anxiety, fatigue, and discomfort. According to the Institute of Medicine (2020), the use of massage in the acute setting has shown improvements in the patient's emotional, spiritual, physiological, and physical aspects of pain and health condition. Massage is risk and complication-free, with no adverse effects. It is a safe therapeutic modality in treatments.