Evidence-based medicine and acupuncture: old bias for new perspectives in clinical context
by Mariateresa Tassinari MPhil, PhD Candidate1 and Paolo Roberti di Sarsina MD2,3
1Member, 2President, Charity for Person Centred Medicine-Moral Entity, Bologna, Italy, 3Researcher, Observatory and Methods for Health, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
From the moment that evidence-based medicine (EBM) was accepted by the predominant medical-scientific community, it has increasingly represented a refuge for medicine, which has voluntarily chosen to regard the validity of a theory and the truth in the same way. The introduction of placebo in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) serves as such [1]; in order to analyse the reality by dividing it into two poles, the true and the false and, by tertium non datur principle, effectively excluding any other possibility.
All of this was legitimized by means of a methodic rigour, which not only excluded but also deprived value, resulting in everything that was either impossible to measure or standardize as unjustifiable [2]. If this measure of purification has permitted important and useful discoveries, it has, on the other hand, also deprived medical practice of a vision which does not fit into a characteristically pharmaceutical-centred one; for the present circumstances, the certainties on which that paradigm is based are weakening and creak like the floor upon which Ptolemy founded his theory.
"Medical Science in crisis. Ways of errors and ways to overcome them."
Plenary Speech, TCM Kongress Rothenburg 2015, 14.05.2015
Dr. Andrea Hellwig, President of the AGTCM
Good morning fellow colleagues and most welcomed guests of the TCM Kongress Rothenburg 2015, today I would like to talk about perspectives and paradigms about obstacles and opportunities. How western science and western medicine see the world - their perspective and the set of ideas they use to understand and explain that world - this paradigm will greatly effect the success of western medicine and western healthcare systems.
How many of you out there, agree we are faced with a medical crisis in the western world? Dr. Sean Murphy described this crisis and the challenges our European healthcare system faces at the ETCMA general assembly in Prague this year:
He said, "The rates of common diseases, such as diabetes, overweight and obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, etc. in European countries, are increasing dramatically, the patient's satisfaction with conventional medical care is decreasing and at the same time, we are looking at a future with steadily increasing health care costs. "
We are in a medical crisis.
And I would like to talk about the real roots of the crisis, the true core from what our healthcare systems and our understanding of adaequate health-care is suffering itself and how this problem could be solved...
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Case study - Availability of herbal, homeopathic and anthroposophic medicinal products
This case study looks at the availability of herbal medicinal products, as well as homeopathic and anthroposophic products. These are three distinct product groups regulated through distinct provisions. In the case of homeopathic products, regulation is primarily through Articles 14 and 16.2 of the Directive 2001/83/EC (described in more detail in the next sections), while in the case of herbal medical products these involve the simplified procedure introduced in Directive 2004/24/EC on Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products (THMPD). The three product groups do however share some attributes:
A Roadmap for CAM Research towards the Horizon of 2020
Harald Walacha, Sirpa Pietikäinenb
aEuropean University Viadrina, Frankfurt/O., Germany
bMember of the European Parliament, Strasbourg, France
CAMbrella was the first pan-European research project that systematically evaluated the state of usage, motivation, provision, and regulation of CAM usage in European coun- tries. It also documented the need and the way forward for research in Europe. Some of the finest minds in European CAM research were either part of the consortium or were invited as experts to some of the specialist meetings. Thus, CAMbrella formulates a consensus never seen in European research on this topic before. Results of the work packages – most of them systematic reviews – have been published, also in open access format in FORSCHENDE KOMPLEMENTÄRMEDIZIN [1]. Now, the final piece, roadmap 2020, has been published and is available online [2]. This roadmap sums up the findings briefly and points towards the future direction of research.
PASCOE–Study
Index:
Preference: Nature Medicine or chemical medication
Advantages of Nature Medicine in comparison to Chemical Medication
Frequency of use of Nature Medicine
Overview: Evaluation of Nature Medicine on the basis of statements (Ø)
Preference between doctors with and without additional identification, „Nature Healing procedures“
Ilnesses or complaints where Nature Medicine was preferred
Influence of the Health Care Reform on the frequency of use of Nature Medicine
Experiences with Nature Medicine