MANY SCHOOLS ADDING COURSES IN ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

WASHINGTON -- Imagine students at the nation's top medical schools cramming
for anatomy and physiology exams, then heading to an elective course in
yoga, energy healing, herbs, acupuncture and mindful meditation.

As strange as that may once have sounded, mainstream medical schools such as
Stanford, Johns Hopkins and Harvard are increasingly teaching courses in
alternative medicine -- therapies that in some medical circles are still
roundly dismissed as quackery.

According to new research out of Harvard University, more than half of U.S.
medical schools offer survey courses in alternative medicine or include the
fundamental principles of Chinese medicine or Indian ayurvedic medicine in
required courses.

The research, published in today's Journal of the American Medical
Association, found that 75 of the nation's 125 medical schools, or 60
percent, teach alternative therapies like acupuncture, chiropractic,
massage, ``therapeutic touch,'' homeopathy, nutrition and mind-body
techniques.

``This is a very good trend, because ultimately I'm hoping that (alternative
medicine) will not be a fringe area of medicine. It really needs to be
integrated throughout medicine,'' said Dr. Miriam Wetzel, director of
curriculum development at Harvard and lead author of the JAMA survey.
``We're looking at integrating herbal remedies in pharmacology courses, or
mind-body techniques in psychology or behavioral medicine. Rehab and
pain-control courses could include areas of chiropractic.''

But some doctors, medical educators and skeptics are appalled.

Dr. Wallace Sampson, a retired oncologist who has taught a class debunking
alternative medicine at Stanford since the 1970s, describes most other
courses on the subject as ``indoctrination'' and ``politically correct
propaganda.''

Wetzel said she was surprised at the high number of medical schools teaching
alternative medicine. Two years ago, only 46 schools were doing so.

The change, she said, reflects the explosion in popularity of alternative
medicine. A 1993 Harvard study found that one in three Americans sought some
form of alternative or unorthodox treatment, from acupuncture to group
therapy to yoga, and spent $10 billion paying for it. That trend has
continued.

Precisely because of that boom, Wetzel and her Harvard colleagues argue,
future doctors need to be exposed to alternative medicine. The 1993 study
found that almost three-fourths of patients who use unconventional
treatments did not let their conventional doctors know, even though the
effects could be devastating. Some herbs, for example, could have dangerous
side effects when mixed with certain drugs.

More centers to research alternative-medicine therapies are beginning to
open at medical schools, including the University of California-San
46rancisco and Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. The
Association of American Medical Schools is holding a three-hour session on
how to teach alternative medicine at its upcoming annual meeting.

1997 - 1998 Mercury Center.

Checked-by: Don Beck