The natural medicine workforce: Terms in public use

Although individual natural therapies and their scope of practice are increasingly recognised and understood in Australia, the same cannot be said for the natural medicine workforce itself which struggles to find a single well-defined and universally accepted identity. Historically the natural medic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of the Australian-Traditional Medicine Society Vol. 17; no. 3; pp. 139 - 142
Main Authors Grace, Sandra, Rogers, Sandi, Eddey, Stephen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Australian Traditional-Medicine Society 01.09.2011
Subjects
Alternative medicine
Australian Traditional-Medicine Society
Government policy
Medical statistics
Public health
Australia
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Summary:Although individual natural therapies and their scope of practice are increasingly recognised and understood in Australia, the same cannot be said for the natural medicine workforce itself which struggles to find a single well-defined and universally accepted identity. Historically the natural medicine workforce has been described by various terms including 'alternative therapists', 'complementary therapists', 'complementary and alternative therapists' or 'CAM therapists/practitioners' and more recently 'integrative medicine practitioners'. Lack of consistency between the terms used by the public and those used by members of health care professions, including natural medicine practitioners themselves, may hinder public understanding about natural medicine and contribute to ongoing disunity within natural therapy professions. Such disunity would weaken the representation of natural medicine to government agencies and to public policy development.
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Journal of the Australian Traditional-Medicine Society, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2011: 139-142
ISSN:1326-3390