Medical Schools Incorporate Integrative Medicine into Curriculum
Aspiring doctors traditionally expect medical school courses focused on anatomy and biochemistry. However, many institutions are now incorporating unconventional treatment options like acupuncture, hypnosis, and herbal remedies into their curriculum through courses categorized as integrative medicine.
Understanding integrative medicine, its controversies, and its proponents’ challenges to medical norms is crucial for prospective medical students, according to some experts.
Integrative medicine combines conventional treatments, such as surgery and prescription drugs, with complementary and alternative medicine, including biofeedback, homeopathy, naturopathy, and mindfulness practices.
“I find that in most households, someone uses methods like massage, chiropractic, naturopathic medicine, or herbal remedies at any given time,” says Fraser Smith, assistant dean and associate professor of naturopathic medicine at National University of Health Sciences in Illinois. “These practices have become more mainstream and part of our common culture.”
Indeed, millions of U.S. adults use these methods for pain management and overall health, according to a 2024 American Medical Association report. The report highlights the increasing prevalence of acupuncture, chiropractic care, massage therapy, meditation, and yoga over the past two decades.
Physicians in integrative medicine claim to rely on scientific evidence to decide which unconventional therapies to recommend, though there is debate within the field about which alternative treatments are proven safe and effective. Integrative medicine physicians sometimes disagree with their colleagues on the validity of various alternative therapies.
Debate Among Advocates and Skeptics
Advocates of integrative medicine emphasize the popularity of alternative therapies among U.S. patients as a justification for studying this discipline.
“Two-thirds of their patients will be using these therapies, so you can’t pretend they don’t exist,” Smith says. “It’s important to maintain an open mind.”
The growing popularity of these treatments can be attributed to rising healthcare costs, notes Jagdish Khubchandani, a professor of public health at New Mexico State University. Patients often seek more cost-effective treatment options, sometimes turning to alternative methods.
“It’s a complicated topic,” Khubchandani says, acknowledging his mixed views on integrative medicine. “Medical schools should include evidence-based components of integrative medicine. It’s beneficial for students to be exposed to both effective and non-effective strategies, as they will encounter these in practice.”
However, critics in traditional medicine question the place of alternative treatments in medical education, arguing that many are pseudoscientific and potentially dangerous.
“Most of what I hear from integrative medicine proponents is nonsense,” says Steven Salzberg, a professor of biomedical engineering and genetic medicine at Johns Hopkins University. “We have a simple term for treatments that work: medicine. Labeling ineffective treatments as ‘integrative’ doesn’t make them work.”
Salzberg asserts that the effectiveness of medical treatments is a scientific issue, and testing claims is straightforward. Problems arise when financial interests promote treatments that lack efficacy.
He advises aspiring doctors to avoid medical schools where integrative medicine courses are mandatory. “To use your time productively, don’t take classes that won’t help you make patients better,” he says.
Smith counters, noting that scientifically proven approaches like chiropractic and herbal extracts can be beneficial and alleviate pain without replacing conventional medicine.
“It doesn’t mean avoiding antibiotics or vaccines, but it serves an important purpose,” he says. “Dismissing it all as ‘hocus pocus’ is arrogant.”
Proponents argue that integrative medicine identifies promising treatments from ancient healing traditions and that medical schools should educate students about these discoveries.