STUDENT ORGANIZERS' GUIDE

This page provides ideas for activities and resources to start medical students on the path to educating themselves and their classmates about the topics of Integrative, Complementary and Alternative medicine (ICAM) and holistic medicine.

Get basic facts and statistics on ICAM to use in preparing handouts. Copy the information and use it to advertise activities or as part of a bulletin board about CAM. Be creative and have fun with your projects!

Also, visit the Humanistic Medicine webpage! Contact the national Humanistic Medicine Coordinators for help and questions if you have a project idea or want to get involved with this interest group. We wish you the best of luck with your planning!

GETTING STARTED

Physicians-in-training may want to begin by searching for ICAM at their medical school and in their community. Ask fourth-year medical students what types of ICAM courses to expect in the future. Ask residents if they receive adequate (or any) training in ICAM. Ask preceptors or mentor physicians how they handle questions from patients about complementary and/or alternative therapies. Check out a local pharmacy school for information about herbal treatments and dietary supplements. Discover how (or if) nursing, dental, public health and veterinary schools incorporate complementary medicine into their curricula. Look in the yellow pages to find local ICAM practitioners. Suggested headings include: acupuncturists, massage therapists, chiropractors, homeopathy, naturopathy.

PROJECT-IN-A-BOX: SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

• Complementary and Alternative Medicine/Wellness Fair
  Invite CAM practitioners from the area to set up tables for an afternoon in a central place at school. Advertise the event as a way for students to discover what type of CAM is out there-the fair is not necessarily legitimizing all of the treatments that are presented. Suggest that CAM practitioners bring pamphlets and other printed information about their specialties and that they come prepared to demonstrate! Be sure to allow plenty of room and lots of time because students will jump at the chance to experience CAM firsthand. This activity would be appropriate for a regional workshop.
  
  
• Lunch Panel Discussion
  After becoming familiar with ICAM practitioners in the area, ask several different people to participate in a discussion on ICAM. Topic ideas can include insurance coverage and liability, validity of scientific evidence, and patient education. Invite a medical doctor (MD, DO) who practices integrative medicine, if possible. If there is an integrated medical center in the area (medical doctors and CAM practitioners working together), include one of their practitioners on the panel to gain a perspective on how to successfully combine conventional and unconventional medicine. For some lively debate, invite someone who has an opposing viewpoint toward ICAM. Providing food attracts more students, but there is already a fairly strong student interest in CAM if the budget is tight.
  
  
• ICAM Lecture Series or Elective
  Organize a series of lectures students can attend that will give them a basic introduction to the philosophy of integrative medicine and various CAM therapies that can be useful in practice. Collaborate with faculty and administration to make the lecture series count as a non-credit elective. Materials for elective planning can be found on this page.
  
  
• Experiential Workshop
  There is no better way to learn about a modality then to experience it firsthand! That is why event planners in the past have reported such a high student turnout for CAM interactive workshops. Get in touch with a local yoga studio and have an instructor come to your school for a morning yoga session. She/he can promote his business while educating students on yoga's health benefits. Invite an acupuncturist to come and demonstrate needling while explaining the concept of chi. Other experiential therapies include osteopathic manual medicine, massage, meditation, reiki, and chiropractic care.
  
  
• Interschool Conference
  Network with ICAM interest groups at neighboring schools in your city to put together a weekend conference or symposium on ICAM research and topics of interest. Contact your medical school's integrative health/CAM center and invite clinicians and research scientists to present their work. Pool resources and funding to create a big event.
  
  
• AMSA Regional Conferences
  If a school is in an area without any CAM practitioners, contact the AMSA regional workshop coordinators (call the national AMSA office to request their names and numbers) and request time for a CAM session. It might be helpful to have a CAM practitioner (perhaps a physician who combines CAM and allopathic medicine) lead the discussion; the session could focus on key scientific, practice, legal, or ethical aspects of CAM. A discussion with medical students from other schools would also lead to an exchange of CAM education information (for example: How are other schools teaching CAM?).
  
  
• Journal Club
  A large part of our education in medical decision making and patient management comes from evidence-based guidelines for clinical practice. Many physicians-in-training are unfamiliar with the current research being conducting on CAM therapies or need to brush up on their skills at critically evaluating research studies. A monthly journal club would give students interested or currently participating in CAM research an opportunity to discuss current literature and the role of evidence-based medicine in CAM. Choose a medical scientist mentor to facilitate the group.
  
  
• Newsletter
  Spread the news about ICAM! Medical students are busy folks and often do not have time to read up on topics that they do not have to study. A concise newsletter with practical information and advice is the perfect way to get students interested. Explore topics such as student stress and burnout, healthy eating/dieting, and exercise tips. Include useful therapies and modalities that they can incorporate into their daily life. For example, if you want to discuss the potential benefits of ginkgo biloba, include a headline like "Ginkgo: Can it Help You Score Higher on the Next Pathology Exam?" Place the newsletters in lecture halls, lounges, cafeteria, library, or any place that people have to wait and might like some reading material to pass the time. E-mail an electronic version to your classmates as well.
  
  
• Start an Interest Group
  Every medical school needs an organization which addresses ICAM and humanism in medicine, so if you school does not have an interest group, gather some student and faculty support and start one of your own! Things to consider when starting a student group are type of leadership structure (Pres, VP, etc.), membership requirements, frequency of meetings, sources of money and fundraising strategies, faculty advisors, and activities.
  
  
• Shadowing Physicians
  Do you have physicians at your school or in your community that practice integrative/holistic medicine or work with CAM practitioners? Have a trusted faculty member or physician mentor refer you to reputable colleagues who would be willing to have student come and shadow them in their practice. If you school has a mandatory preceptorship requirement for clinical medicine, encourage integrative/holistic MD and DO doctors in your community to contact your school and volunteer their services. Potential contacts can be found online.

YOU HAVE QUESTIONS... WE HAVE RESOURCES

You don't have to reinvent the wheel…tap into AMSA's existing resources!

• So, I have this great idea, but how do I work out the logistics?
  AMSA students have completed successful ICAM projects at their schools and have submitted sample project proposals & reports, powerpoint presentations, sample flyers, planning guides, and flyer templates available for download. You can also share the wealth and submit your own. Please make changes to your documents to protect privacy. We will automatically post your name as the sole author & creator of the document, unless you decline. Please submit all text resources in jpg, gif, Word, PDF, PPT or Excel format.
  
  
• What are other local AMSA Chapters Doing?
  View AMSA's Online Project Directory list of ICAM projects and their descriptions. If you have already have planned an event at your school and would like to contribute to this database, you can submit your local project online. Please be sure to list it under the content area of "Complementary and Alternative Medicine" and associate it with the "Humanistic Medicine" action committee. Join the National ICAM student network and share ideas with officers of ICAM interest groups all over North America.
  
  
• How can I fund my event?
  AMSA provides funding ranging from $25 - $400 for medical chapter projects and up to $200 for premedical chapter projects. For an application, please visit our AMSA Local Project Grant page.
  
  
• How can I become involved in ICAM activism?
  
  
  • Follow ICAM Legislation. Through AMSA's Legislative Affairs you can access information about the status of current bills. A site outside of AMSA dedicated to ICAM lobbying and legislation is the American Association for Health Freedom which includes a legislative action center. Find out what's going on in your state! Information about individual states' CAM policies and regulations can be found on our ICAM Politics and Regulations page or at http://www.faim.org/states.htm. If you do not like what you discover, write a letter to your state representative.
    
    
  • Advocate for ICAM in Medical Education. Is your school currently planning to make changes in its curriculum? This is the perfect opportunity to jump on board and get education on humanism, physician/student wellness, nutrition, preventive medicine, and other ICAM related topics integrated into your medical education.
    
    Team up with supportive faculty and student and talk to your dean about how you can work together to achieve this goal. For guidance on CAM curricula, visit the AMSA Foundation's EDCAM webpage. EDCAM also has curriculum modules available for download.
    
    Join WEICAM –a supportive community of like-minded students and faculty who dialogue monthly through free teleconferences on the second Tuesday of every month at 7:30-8:30 PM (standard eastern time). Workshops include, and are not restricted to, inspiring speakers, overcoming administrative barriers, PR, and networking. RSVP to the ICAM coordinator by the Saturday before the teleconference to participate.