Consultation clinics for complementary and alternative medicine at Japanese university hospitals: An analysis at Tokushima University Hospital

Abstract

Abstract. here, we report on a consultation clinic for complementary and alternative medicine (cam) which we established at tokushima university hospital in July of 2007 with the aim of providing person-to-person information on cam, though not cam therapy itself. in december of 2008, we received 55 applications for consultation, 37% concerning health foods, 37% Japanese herbal medicine (Kampo), and 26% various other topics. the consultants (nutritionists and pharmacists) communicated individually with 38 applicants; malignancies (26%) and cardiovascular disease (24%) were the main underlying concerns. to promote the quality of consultation, data was collected by means of focus group interviews concerning the perspective of the consultants. Safe and effective use of cam requires a network of communication linking individuals, consultation teams, physicians, primary care institutions and university hospitals. to advance this goal, we plan to broaden the efforts described herein. Our findings indicate that the specific role of the consultation clinic in promoting the scientific use of CAM merits further study. Introductionthe use of complementary and alternative medicine (cam) is increasing in Japan, as in other countries. to a greater degree than other forms of cam, traditional Japanese herbal medicine (Kampo) has achieved recognition and integration into the Japanese healthcare system. regarding the attitudes of Japanese doctors to cam, imanishi et al (1) reported that 267 (73%) of the responding physicians practiced some form of cam, and that most doctors practicing cam (96%) were Kampo practitioners. Kampo is the form of cam that doctors themselves use most frequently, and many medical universities and organizations offer pre-and post-graduate programs in Kampo.Many patients, on the other hand, seek specific outcomes and use other types of cam, particularly health foods and dietary supplements. in a study of 3100 Japanese cancer patients, hyodo et al (2) reported that 44.6% used some type of cam, and that 96.2% of the uses were health foods including dietary supplements. in a survey of patients attending general outpatient clinics in tokyo, hori et al (3) reported that 50% of the 496 patients who responded were using or had used at least one cam therapy within the previous 12 months. these patients most often used massage (43%), vitamins (35%) and health foods including dietary supplements (23%). nevertheless, many Japanese physicians assign a limited role to cam practices other than Kampo. unfortunately, patients have limited access to scientific information concerning cam, and only a few public university hospitals in Japan (e.g., Osaka university since 2002 and Kanazawa university since 2008) have a cam clinic.at tokushima university hospital, an academic hospital in tokushima, Shikoku, we established a cam consultation clinic in July of 2007 to provide reliable information on cam directed to the specific needs of each applicant. Here, we report on the current activities of the cam clinic. Methods CAM clini...

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