Integrative Medicine
<p ><b>Integrative medicine</b> or <b>integrative health</b> is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism" title="Neologism" >neologism</a> coined by practitioners to describe the combination of practices and methods of<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine" title="Alternative medicine" >alternative medicine</a> with conventional medicine.<sup id="cite_ref-BMJ_May_0-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-BMJ_May-0" >[1]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-What_Is_CAM_1-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-What_Is_CAM-1" >[2]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-wfubmc_2-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-wfubmc-2" >[3]</a></sup> Some universities and hospitals have integrative-medicine departments.<sup id="cite_ref-wfubmc_2-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-wfubmc-2" >[3]</a></sup> The term has been popularised by, among others, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak_Chopra" title="Deepak Chopra" >Deepak Chopra</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Weil" title="Andrew Weil" >Andrew Weil</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince%27s_Foundation_for_Integrated_Health" title="The Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health" >Prince Charles</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-BMJ_3-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-BMJ-3" >[4]</a></sup> In the UK, the universities of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Buckingham" title="University of Buckingham" >Buckingham</a> and<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Westminster" title="University of Westminster" >Westminster</a> have previously offered courses in integrative medicine, for which they have received much criticism.<sup id="cite_ref-Buckingham_4-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-Buckingham-4" >[5]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-ScienceDegrees_5-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-ScienceDegrees-5" >[6]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Giles_6-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-Giles-6" >[7]</a></sup></p>
<h2 >[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Integrative_medicine&action=edit§ion=1" title="Edit section: Criticism" >edit</a>]Criticism</h2>
<p >Integrative medicine receives the same types of criticisms that are directed at alternative medicine.<sup id="cite_ref-Novella_7-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-Novella-7" >[8]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-WP_Novella_8-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-WP_Novella-8" >[9]</a></sup>
Dr. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_S._Relman" title="Arnold S. Relman" >Arnold S. Relman</a>, a former editor of <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_England_Journal_of_Medicine" title="The New England Journal of Medicine" >The New England Journal of Medicine</a></i> wrote:</p>
<blockquote class="templatequote" >
<div class="Bug6200">There are not two kinds of medicine, one conventional and the other unconventional, that can be practiced jointly in a new kind of 'integrative medicine.' Nor, as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Weil" title="Andrew Weil" >Andrew Weil</a> and his friends also would have us believe, are there two kinds of thinking, or two ways to find out which treatments work and which do not. In the best kind of medical practice, all proposed treatments must be tested objectively. In the end, there will only be treatments that pass that test and those that do not, those that are proven worthwhile and those that are not. Can there be any reasonable 'alternative'?<sup id="cite_ref-Relman_9-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-Relman-9" >[10]</a></sup></div>
</blockquote>
<p >Speaking of government funding studies of integrating alternative medicine techniques into the mainstream, Dr. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Novella" title="Steven Novella" >Steven Novella</a>, a neurologist at Yale School of Medicine, wrote that it "is used to lend an appearance of legitimacy to treatments that are not legitimate." Dr. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcia_Angell" title="Marcia Angell" >Marcia Angell</a>, former editor-in-chief of <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_England_Journal_of_Medicine" title="The New England Journal of Medicine" >The New England Journal of Medicine</a></i> says, "It's a new name for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil" title="Snake oil" >snake oil</a>."<sup id="cite_ref-WP_Novella_8-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-WP_Novella-8" >[9]</a></sup>
Organisations advocating integrative medicine in the UK have been criticised for promoting unproven complementary treatments.<sup id="cite_ref-BMJ_May_0-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_Medicine#cite_note-BMJ_May-0" >[1]</a></sup></p>
<h2 >[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Integrative_medicine&action=edit§ion=2" title="Edit section: See also" >edit</a>]See also</h2>
<ul >
<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease_management_(health)" title="Disease management (health)" >Disease management (health)</a></li>
<li ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personalized_medicine" title="Personalized medicine" >Personalized medicine</a></li>
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