Complementary and Alternative Medicine

• Complementary and alternative care
  (Capital Health search results)

In 2003, The Stollery Children's Hospital welcomed the first academic pediatric integrative medicine program in Canada with the creation of the Complementary and Alternative Research and Education (CARE) program.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a patient-led phenomenon and Canadians are using it in record numbers. Children are not exempt from this use. In fact a child with a serious, chronic or recurrent illness has a 70 per cent likelihood of using CAM.

The CARE program was created to address the information gap that currently exists regarding safety and efficacy of pediatric CAM use. The CARE program is based on three "pillars": clinical assessment, research and education.

1. The clinical assessment arm will start with a relatively narrow scope, addressing Traditional Chinese Medicine, naturopathy and massage therapy.
2. The research program studies CAM broadly in order to promote knowledge of safety and efficacy in children.
3. The Education arm facilitates knowledge transfer to a variety of stakeholders, including academic medicine, CAM providers and colleges, the public and policy/decision-makers.

By developing, synthesizing and disseminating evidence about pediatric CAM, Dr. Sunita Vohra and the team hope to improve the health of children.