Complementary therapies: introduction into a nursing curriculum

With the increasing use of complementary therapies by the general population, nursing faculty are challenged to educate their students about these therapies. The authors designed a course to provide students with a broad overview of selected complementary therapies commonly used in the United States. In preparation for the course, the authors evaluated graduate nursing students' awareness, use, and practice patterns of complementary therapies in their rural state. A high percentage (82%) of those students thought it was important for healthcare professionals to understand complementary therapies. The course has been offered three times, once using an interactive video network and twice using a 5-day workshop format.