ICAM Resource Center
Welcome to the ICAM (Integrative, Complementary and Alternative Medicine) Resource Center! Our mission is to give health professionals-in-training an understanding of the distinct areas of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), including how to integrate useful and proven CAM modalities into holistic, patient-centered clinical practice.
Efficacy VS Effectiveness of CAM Practices
(From Curtis, PC 2004) Efficacy means that the treatment or substance (surgery, medication, herbal remedy) clearly produces a change in biological or psychosocial function under optimum conditions—after excluding other possible causes for the change. That biological change may be beneficial or deleterious. Effectiveness, on the other hand, refers to the treatment’s success in day-to-day clinical practice. Outcomes of complementary and alternative medicine can be studied by using both efficacy and effectiveness research.
For more information: Curtis, PC. Assessing the Effectiveness of Complementary & Alternative Medicine. In S. Gaylord, S. Norton, P. Curtis (Eds.), The Convergence of Complementary, Alternative & Conventional Health Care: Educational Resources for Health Professionals. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Program on Integrative Medicine, 2004.