When science meets medical tradition: what is needed for a dialogue on integrative medicine?

It has been more than a decade since the release of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) consensus statement declaring that acupuncture is not an experimental therapy but a sound medical technique comparable in effectiveness to common conventional medical treatments for certain clinical conditions, such as nausea and pain. For the first time in the history of modern medicine, a traditional medical system gained legitimacy in the Western medical establishment. Yet, it remains unclear whether the motivation behind this endorsement represents a unity of conceptualization regarding the desired structure of the health care system and the nature of the integration of conventional and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Two (2) doctors, each representing a different paradigm, met in order to discuss and elucidate issues that relate to the nature of the proposed integration between allopathy and CAM. Their responses to key questions prompted by the 1997 NIH/FDA consensus statement create a platform for a unified "contract" that represents their vision regarding the essence of collaboration between the two systems of medicine. Based on the richness of their discussion, it is recommended that other medical centers engage in similar dialogues in order to establish their own contracts. It is hoped that this will pave the way toward mutual acceptance, both conceptually and strategically, of a pluralistic health care system.