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Complementary & Alternative Medicine Research Guide

INTRODUCTION

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), as defined by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), "is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine." This research guide suggests research strategies and useful print and electronic resources on this emerging field to help you start your research. For bioethical resources, please check our Bioethics guide [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/bioethics.cfm] or Bioethics: End of Life guide [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/bioethics_endlife.cfm], and for broader health law research, please check our Health Law guide [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/health.cfm].

If you are writing a seminar paper, please also consult our Seminar Papers Research Guide [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/seminar_papers.cfm] for research strategies.

If you have any questions or need additional research assistance, please feel free to contact the Library's Reference Desk, at 202-662-9140 or by email: libref@law.georgetown.edu

WHAT IS CAM?

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) [http://www.nccam.nih.gov/] is one of twenty-seven institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Its Web site is full of useful information about CAM.

Other Dictionaries & Glossaries:

FINDING SECONDARY SOURCES: BOOKS, JOURNALS, REPORTS

Start your research by looking up secondary sources because someone might have already done research on or related to your topic.

  1. Books
    1. Major Treatises
    2. Library Catalogs
      To find other books on the topic as well as the availability of the items in the libraries, do keyword searches and/or subject heading searches on library catalogs. Some subject headings you can use are:
      • Alternative medicine - United States
      • Alternative medicine - United States - History
      • Alternative medicine - Law and Legislation - United States
      • Alternative medicine - Law and Legislation - United States - States
      • Alternative medicine - Moral and Ethical Aspects
      • Integrative medicine - Law and Legislation
      Here are catalogs to library collections you have access to :
      • GULLiver - the Law Library's catalog
      • GEORGE - the catalog of the libraries on Main Campus, the library collections are strong in medicine and bioethics.
      • WorldCat - the catalog you use when you cannot find books you need in either GULLiver or GEORGE. You use this catalog also to request an item through Interlibrary Loan.
  2. CAM Journals

    Below is a list of CAM and major medical journals. This list links you to the full-text journals where you can retrieve articles by volume and issue number, as well as the database where you can do keyword search for articles in that particular journal (if you limit the search to the journal) or in all the journals in that database.

    If you have a citation to an article from a CAM, medical or law journal NOT listed above and you want to find out if it is available electronically to the Georgetown community, you can search the journal title on Journal Finder. Bear in mind journals available through the Medical Library or the Main Library are not accessible to law students off-campus. If you cannot find your journal on either Journal Finder or GULLiver (the Law Library catalog), request the article through Interlibrary loan.

    The above journal table only lists a handful of journals that publish articles on CAM issues. If you want to be more comprehensive, you should also search the following medical databases, legal indexes and policy study databases (some give you only citations or abstracts, others are full-text databases). The Using Articles for Legal and Non-Legal Research Guide explains clearly the differences between searching indexes and full-text databases.

    Alternative Medicine: An Objective Assessment (Phil B. Fontanarosa ed., 2000) [R733 .A45 2000] collects in one volume articles published in the 1998 alternative medicine theme issues of JAMA and the Archives Journals, as well as articles published in these journals within the previous or subsequent year.

  3. Medical/Science Indexes
    • Medline (Ovid) (1966-) On-campus access only
      A subscription database available through the Dahlgren Library (the Medical Library) web site provides some full-text articles (compared to PubMed's free but citation/abstract only database). Check GULLiver (The Law Library Catalog) and Journal Finder to determine if you can access the materials in the Law Library.

    • CAM on PubMed
      It automatically limits searches to the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) subset of PubMed which contains some articles that are out of the scope of Medline, in addition to all Medline citations. It is free.

    • CINAHL- Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature (1983-) On-campus access only
      Also indexes some CAM journals.

    • ProQuest Research Library (1980s-) (Georgetown Law only)
      Indexes and abstracts articles from over 1800 periodicals. Some CAM journals are included.

    • Web of Science (1980-) On-campus access only
      "Web of Science is a multidisciplinary bibliographic database that indexes and abstracts journals in the science and social sciences. In addition to regular author, title and keyword searches, the citation database offer access to articles' cited references. You may take a known, relevant paper and find other, more recent papers that cite it."


    • International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (IBIDS) Database (Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health) "provides access to bibliographic citations and abstracts from published, international, and scientific literature on dietary supplements."

  4. Legal Indexes

    Searching the journal databases on Westlaw and Lexis sounds much more direct and convenient (one-stop shopping for the full text of the articles), but Westlaw and Lexis do not give you access to all law journals. Indexes are more comprehensive in their coverage and the subject headings help you retrieve more relevant articles. For more information about the differences between using an index and searching full-text journals, please consult Using Articles for Legal and Non-Legal Research Guide. The two main legal journal indexes are:
    • Legal Periodicals and Books (formerly Index to Legal Periodicals)
      Citations to articles from over 700 legal publications, plus monographs published in 1993 or late. Periodical coverage begins in August 1981. Legal Periodicals and Books Retro covers 1918-1981. Availble:
      • Library subscription http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/ilp.cfm (Georgetown Law only)
      • Westlaw: ILP (links to available full text)
      • Lexis: Legal > Secondary Legal > Annotations & Indexes > Index to Legal Periodicals (links to available full text)
      • suggested subject headings: alternative medicine, dietary supplements

    • LegalTrac (1980-) (also known as Legal Resource Index)
      Cumulative indexing of approximately 800 legal publications. Also includes law related articles from more than 1,000 additional bar journals, business and general interest periodicals. Coverage begins 1980. Available:
      • Library subscription http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/legaltrac.cfm (Georgetown Law only)
      • Westlaw:LRI (links to available full text)
      • Lexis: Legal > Secondary Legal > Annotations & Indexes > Legal Resource Index (links to available full text)
      • suggested subject headings: alternative medicine, holistic medicine, integrative medicine, homeopathy, dietary supplements

    • Legal Journals Index (1986-) (for EU and UK journal articles)
      • suggested subject headings: complementary medicine

    • Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (1985-) indexes close to 500 international and comparative law periodicals
      • do keyword search because subject headings are quite broad, such as medical laws and legislation.
  5. Policy Studies/Government Reports
    1. Major Government Reports
      The above reports are only a handful of reports or policy study papers published by the government and by research centers. If you want to be more comprehensive, you should also search the following indexes and databases:

    2. Indexes/Databases
      • PolicyFile (1990-)
        Indexes and abstracts public policy research and analyses originating from think tanks, university research programs, research organizations, and publishers. Where available, access to home pages and full text are made available within individual abstracts.

      • PAIS International (1972-) On-campus access only. Indexes public policy and public affairs literature.

      • GAO Reports (1994-)
        The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the investigative arm of Congress. "Its mission is to support Congress in meeting its Constitutional responsibilities (e.g. oversight, policy, and funding decision) and to help improve the performance and accountability of the Federal Government for the American People." Most GAO reports are done at the request of members of Congress.

      • Congressional Research Service Reports (CRS Reports)
        These are non-partisan and in-depth reports produced by the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of the Library of Congress, on a variety of topics for Congress. They are not widely available, but a few libraries and individuals have been collecting and making them accessible. Two of the more comprehensive and well-organized collections are available for free at:
      • CQ Researcher [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/connect/cq_researcher.cfm] Weekly publication covers the most current and controversial issues of the day with complete summaries, insight into all sides of the issues, bilbiographies and more. Some of the recent CAM related publications are Dietary Supplements (September 3, 2004), and Homeopathy Debate (December 19, 2003).
  6. Statistics
    1. "High Cost of Medical Care Prompts Consumers to Seek Alternatives," No. 28 Data Bulletin (December 2004, Results from Center of Studying Health System Change (HSC) Research
      [http://www.hschange.org/CONTENT/722/722.pdf]

    2. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Adults: United States, 2002 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
      [http://nccam.nih.gov/news/report.pdf]

    3. Chronology of First Acupuncture Practice Laws and Reported Number of Licensees in Each State (National Acupuncture Foundation, 2005)
      [http://www.nationalacupuncturefoundation.org/images/No_of_Licenses_chart.pdf]

    4. National Health Interview Survey (National Center of Health Statistics)
      [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm]

    5. LexisNexis Statistical (previously called Statistical Universe) [http://web.lexis-nexis.com/statuniv/] (Georgetown Law only) includes
      • the American Statistics Index (ASI) (1973- ) which covers sources from various government departments and agencies;
      • Index to International Statistics (IIS) (1983- ) which covers sources from various international and regional organizations;
      • and Statistical Reference Index (SRI) (1980- ) which covers sources from different types of associations and organizations.

    6. Current Index to Statistics (1974- )
      [http://0-www.statindex.org.library.lausys.georgetown.edu/CIS/psqlQuery] On-campus access only
      A bibliographic index to publications in statistics and related fields. References are drawn from 111 core journals that are fully indexed, about 1200 non-core journals from which articles are selected that have statistical content, proceedings and edited books, and other sources.


  7. Newsletters
    • Health Plan and Provider Report (BNA) [KF3825 .A15 B87]
      Available online from Westlaw: BNA-HPPR and from the Law Library Web site http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/MAC.NSF (Georgetown Law only)


  8. Blogs
    • CAMLaw: Complementary & Alternative Medicine Law Blog (Published by Michael H. Cohen, Esq.)
      [http://www.camlawblog.com/] Published by the leading expert in the field, CAMLaw is a great current awareness resource for new laws and new secondary sources.

    • The Whole Child: An Integrative Pediatrics Forum Hosted by Dr. Larry Rosen
      [http://www.thewholechild.us/]


  9. Newspapers

    Newspapers are good sources of information on pending legislation or pending cases. Because CAM issues are mainly state legal issues, it is important to search major state newspapers as well as national newspapers.
    • Lexis: There are many newspaper databases under the "News and Business" tab
    • Westlaw: There are many newspaper databases in the "Business and News" folder
    • ProQuest Research Library includes many news magazines such as Time and Newsweek

LEGISLATION

Secondary sources, such as treatises and journal articles, are usually the best place to start gathering citations to relevant legislation.

  1. Current Legislation related to CAM

    1. Where else to find Federal Legislation:
      • Laws and Regulations (Food and Drug Administration) provides full text of laws and regulations enforced by the FDA, last updated November 7, 2002.

      • Industry Regulation (Council for Responsible Nutrition) provides summaries and analyses of legislation and regulations that would have an impact on the dietary supplement industry.

      • The Legislative Action Center (American Chiropractic Association) is a great resource for new legislation with an impact on chiropractic practices.

      • Westlaw

      • Lexis

      • United States Code (USC), United States Code Annotated (USCA), United States Code Service (USCS)

    2. Where else to find State Legislation and Regulations on CAM:
      The licensing and regulatory power of biomedicine practitioners (e.g. physicians, dentists, and pharmacists), specialists who practice under physicians' supervisions, and providers of complementary and alternative health care lie within the state legislatures. The legal boundaries of CAM are still in flux. Some states are more ahead in regulating different CAM modalities than the others. There is also no one place that collects all such legislation from all states in an organized and comparative manner. Also individual groups of CAM practitioners will have a vested interest to publicize and advocate any new legislation. The following is a selection of resources:
      • Westlaw: SURVEYS database provides 50 state surveys on over 40 health care topics (none specifically on CAM yet). Sources: National Survey of State Laws, Multijurisdictional Survey, and West Surveys. Currency varies.

      • Health Freedom States
        [http://www.faim.org/states.htm]
        It lists state laws that protect patient access to alternative therapies from licensed physicians (Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, and Washington).

      • National Conference for State Legislatures (NCSL) [http://www.ncsl.org/]
        The Web site provides links to all state legislatures, personnel, and committees. NCSL also compiles bills introduced in all 50 states and District of Columbia on some specific topics such as State Medical Malpractice. By doing a "find" or browsing through the table, you will find that in California the Assembly has passed and has sent to the Senate Bill AB592: "Medical professional not subject to discipline for specified aspects of unprofessional conduct solely on basis that treatment or advice rendered to patient is alternative or emerging medical care."

      • Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine State Laws and Regulations [KF2913 .A25 Z954 2005]

      • Chances are you will have to go to individual state codes for statutes and legislatures for bills currently under consideration. Some helpful Web sites:
        • NCSL has a "State Legislatures Internet Links" database [http://www.ncsl.org/public/leglinks.cfm] which "contains information gleaned from the home pages and Web sites of the fifty state legislatures, the District of Columbia and the Territories. You can select to view specific web site content materials (such as bills, press rooms, statutes) from all states, on state or a selected list of states."

        • The Law Library maintains a list of state research guides [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/research/state_local.cfm] to help you do state legal research.

        • Searching state databases on Westlaw and/or Lexis

        • Using print state codes. Consult state research guides for help.
    3. Guidelines:

  2. Legislative History


    If you are working on legislative history research of a federal law:
    • The first thing to do is to check if there is a compilation of legislative history on your legislation by doing a keyword search '"legislation name" and legislation history' on GULLiver (our online catalog)

    • If your legislation was passed after 1980, retrieve a list of legislative history (for very recent laws, you can link to full-text documents as well) from LexisNexis Congressional.

    • Thomas [http://thomas.loc.gov] is a Library of Congress database for bills and legislative history documents. It is free and easy to use and it covers bills and legislative history and bill status info from 101st Congress (1989) onwards.

    • Once you have retrieved a list of legislative history documents, you can locate them. The Legislative History Research Guide will help you do that.

    If you are working on legislative history research of a state law:

    • The first thing to do is to check if there is a compilation of legislative history on your legislation by doing a keyword search "legislation name" and "legislation history" on GULLiver (our online catalog)

    • Westlaw's Legislative Histories databases (state code-LH) are great sources for state legislative history.

    • Legislative history for state legislation is generally not as widely accessible as that for federal legislation, consult the state research guides to learn more about how to do legislative history research on your state. Don't hesitate to contact a reference librarian for assistance.


  3. Pending Legislation

    CASES

    Secondary sources, such as treatises and journal articles, are usually the best places to start gathering relevant cases in this field.

    1. Decisions/Opinions

      To Find similar cases, you can KeyCite or Shepardize the cases found in the above sources or use the Key Numbers assigned to headnotes of these cases on Westlaw.

      If you are starting from scratch, Westlaw's KeySearch can help you identify relevant Key Numbers and their underlying concepts and run a query for you. To use KeySearch, click KeySearch on the toolbar; select and open a topic; find the subtopic you think your cases belong; choose the jurisdiction and enter search terms in the "Add Search Terms (optional)" box.

    2. Pending Cases

    GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

    • NACCAM [http://nccam.nih.gov/] is one of twenty-seven institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is "dedicated to exploring complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science, training complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) researchers, and disseminating authoritative information to the public and professionals." This Web site contains useful and credible CAM health information and information about NCCAM's research activities and government reports.

    • Food and Drug Administration [http://www.fda.gov]
      • Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition [http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/] is responsible for the safety of the nation's domestically produced and imported foods and dietary supplements with some exceptions (under the mandate of other federal departments and agencies). The area under the purview of the Center that is of most interest to CAM researchers is dietary supplement [http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/supplmnt.html]

      • Center for Devices and Radiological Health [http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/index.html] regulates medical devices. The Web site provides information about different medical devices. You can search the CDRH database and find the CFR section in which the device is mentioned as well as the device classification information.

      • Center for Drug Evaluation and Research [http://www.fda.gov/cder/index.html]
    • Office of Dietary Supplement [http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/] The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-417) authorized the establishment of the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) at the NIH. The Web site provides information on the safety and effectiveness of dietary supplement.

    • Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM) (National Cancer Institute) [http://www.cancer.gov/cam/] was established in 1998 to "coordinate and enhance the activities of the National Cancer Institute [http://www.cancer.gov/] with regard to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The Web site contains useful and credible CAM health information and information about OCCAM's research activities and government reports.

    • Federal Trade Commission [http://www.ftc.gov] The FTC's Consumer Response Center [http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/health/whocares/altmeds.htm] accept complaints against misleading advertisements for either alternative medicine or conventional treatments.

    • State Medical Boards - "The primary responsibility and obligation of a state medical board is to protect consumers of health care through proper licensing and regulation of physicians and in some jurisdictions, other health care professionals." (What is a State Medical Board page of the Federation of State Medical Boards [http://www.fsmb.org]). 70 medical licensing authorities in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands belong to the Federation of State Medical Boards which is a national non-profit association. It maintains a Board Directory for a listing of its memberships [http://www.fsmb.org/members.htm]. The Web site includes a DocInfo request form [http://www.docinfo.org/]. By filling in the physician's name, city and state where he or she is located, the Federation will provide a disciplinary histories report for you for a fee.

    OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES

    The following is a very selected group of useful resources on the Web. When you are surfing the Web, assess the credibility of the resources by following the suggestions at:

    1. Advocacy Groups
    2. CAM Associations and Organizations
      • Alternative Medicine Foundation [http://amfoundation.org/] is a non-profit organization aiming to "respond to the public and professional need for responsible and reliable education, information, and dialogue about the integration of alternative and conventional medicine." The Web site provides many useful resources, including HerbMed - "an interactive, electronic databases - provides hyperlinked access to the scientific data underlying the use of herbs for health," and resource guides to different CAM modalities and health issues.

      • American Association of Naturopathic Physicians [http://www.naturopathic.org/] provides information on naturopathy - what is it, what kind of education and licensing requirements do practitioners have to meet. The Web sites also include a Legislative Action Center [http://capwiz.com/naturopathic/home/] which provides details of current legislation having impacts on naturopaths.

      • American Association of Oriental Medicine [http://www.aaom.org/] The Web site provides updates on business and professional issues, on educational issues, as well as legislative issues that have an impact on its members . It also includes a How to Find an Acupuncturist page.

      • American Chiropractic Association [http://www.amerchiro.org/] has general information about chiropractic practices and the activities of its Department of Government Relations. The Legislative Action Center is a great resource for new legislation with an impact on chiropractic practices.

      • American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM) [http://www.acam.org/index.html] is "a not-for-profit medical society dedicated to educating physicians and other health care professionals on the latest findings and emerging procedures in preventive/nutritional medicine." The Web site includes general information about the association, and a database of its members. A few sections of the Web site are still under construction.

      • American Holistic Medical Association (AHMA) [http://www.holisticmedicine.org/] "The mission of AHMA is to support physicians in their evolving personal and professional development as healers and practitioners of holistic medicine." The Web site has a member only section. The public side includes general information about holistic medicine, including FAQs and press releases.

      • American Massage Therapy Association [http://www.amtamassage.org]

      • American Medical Association [http://www.ama-assn.org/] Two reports by its Council on Scientific Affairs are related to CAM:
      • American Osteopathic Association [http://www.osteopathic.org/] is the primary certifying body for D.O.s and is the accrediting agency for all osteopathic medical colleges and health facilities.

      • National Center for Homeopathy [http://www.homeopathic.org]

      • National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) [http://www.ncbtmb.com/] The Web site includes a directory of nationally certified practitioner.

      • National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) [http://www.nccaom.org/] The Web site includes the NCCAOM Directory of Diplomates (Practitioners) who meet national requirements for board certification in one or more practice areas: Oriental medicine, acupuncture, Chinese herbology, or Asian bodywork therapy.

      • Qigong Association of America [http://www.qi.org]

      • Tai Sophia Institute [http://www.tai.edu] One of the first schools of acupuncture in the United States. The Web site provides information about its educational programs, as well as a National/International Practitioner Referral List for Acupuncturist, herbalists, animal acupuncturists, and Chinese Herbalists, among other things.

      • Touch for Health Kinesiology Association of America [http://www.tfhka.org/]


    3. Research Centers and Institutes
    4. Health Information
    5. Foreign/International Organizations
    6. Other Useful Web Sites

Updated 8/31/2007 (YM)