The integration of natural healing procedures into research and teaching at German universities

This article describes the activities of the "Münchener Modell," a project for "Integration of Natural Healing Procedures into Research and Teaching" at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. Its objective is to improve research and teaching of Natural Healing Procedures (NHPs) and to provide the infrastructural and conceptual prerequisites for the establishment of an independent academic institution. In the years 1989 to 1992 the project organized three 1-year pregraduate courses of NHPs for medical students. Parts of the courses have now been integrated in the regular undergraduate education. In 1993 a quality assurance project for postgraduate education was piloted. In a network of clinics using NHPs a comprehensive quality assurance project including observational studies and controlled clinical trials has been implemented and piloted. For evaluating the actual state of knowledge in a transparent way the project performs systematic reviews of published research. Further clinical-experimental research is being done in the area of immunomodulation with natural products.