CAM-friendly Pharm schools?

[yummygummy]

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Are there any pharmacy schools that integrate CAM (complementary and Alternative medicine) or integrative medicine? I am especially interested in those in CA but am open to ones outside of California. I know USC has one class in complementary and alternative therapeutics in the third year.

 

[charfdorn]

Are there any pharmacy schools that integrate CAM (complementary and Alternative medicine) or integrative medicine? I am especially interested in those in CA but am open to ones outside of California. I know USC has one class in complementary and alternative therapeutics in the third year.

I'd be interested in info on this, too. My gut feeling tells me you have to do this education on your own.

 

[FarscapeGirl]

Not this again! There's no such thing as 'alternative medicine.' There's just medicine.

If something has been shown to be helpful in scientific studies, whether massage, herbs, or the latest medicine from some drug company, then it's medicine. If it hasn't, it shouldn't be taught in a reputable pharmacy school.

That said, there are some schools that do offer classes on alternative medicine, UW Seattle included, but what's covered is herbs that have been shown to be effective.

 

[ret09]

Sigh.. Didn't we take care of this last week?

What "alternative medicine" are you talking about? Many pharmacy schools have a required course on "Herbal Medicines", as the other poster pointed out, which are botanical/herbal products with pretty well established benefits, dosages, side effects, mechanisms of action, etc. (think garlic, echinacea, ginger, milk thistle), and not ridiculous hocus-pocus stuff like thinking eating an endangered white tiger's penis will make your junk bigger. Teaching some of that "alternative medicine" stuff is completely ridiculous, and it does not belong in pharmacy programs and evidence-based western medicine.