CAM Curriculum Activities to Enhance Professionalism Training in Medical Schools

Enhancing the professionalism of graduates is a major objective of most health care education institutions today. Educating conventional health care providers about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) may directly and indirectly improve trainee professionalism by expanding trainees' knowledge and appreciation of diverse health care beliefs and practices, improving physician-patient communication, enhancing self-care, and increasing sense of competence and job satisfaction. A survey based on professional competencies proposed by the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine was administered to the grantees of the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine R-25 CAM education project initiative. The survey's aim was to identify project activities that taught professionalism skills. All projects reported curricular features that enhanced trainee professionalism, with substantial percentages of project effort directed toward professionalism-related activities.