Alternative medicine--complementary therapies on the rise

Studies show that use of some types of alternative medicine not only helps patients have a better experience in the hospital, but that it can cut costs by reducing the amount of medication patients require, the amount of time they stay in the hospital and the possibility that they will have to return to the hospital.

"The evidence is rapidly mounting that these do have a role to play in the healing process in ways that traditional medicine is acknowledging and embracing," Wade said. "I think if a hospital has the resources to do it they will because patients will want it."

Dr. Dale Fell, chief medical officer at Mission, said all four medical schools in North Carolina have integrative medicine as part of their curriculums and that many hospitals the size of Mission have already ventured into the field.

"Not just the big hospitals, but small hospitals are doing it, small towns are doing it," Fell said. "You don't have to be in a cosmopolitan area to do it or in a big city. Most places are doing it in some fashion."

The integrative medicine program at Mission is still in the early stages of being developed, and because of the economy its budget was cut in half, Fell said.

At this point, the program is focusing on educating physicians, nurses and staff.

The hospital has set up two-day nursing retreats to educate nurses about the benefits of treatments like healing touch, aromatherapy and massage so they feel more comfortable asking for these therapies for their patients, while also promoting the benefits for the nurses themselves.

Excerpted from:

http://www.reflector.com/news/state/new-medicine-program-a-bit-unco...