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CAM evolving as an accepted course of cancer treatment
NEW ORLEANS – Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has grown in popularity over the years and is shifting the paradigm of care, says Judith Fouladbakhsh, PhD, assistant professor, Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich.
According to the National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), CAM is “a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine…” However, the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) Social Policy Statement suggests that nursing involves not only traditional avenues of treatment using chemotherapy and pharmaceuticals, but also restorative, supportive and promotive practices. With CAM therapies in place within the practice, nurses can expand on their ability to provide restorative benefits to patients with cancer.
CAM’s popularity is growing among oncology nurses because it offers a range of natural treatment options for patients with cancer who wish to seek a better quality of life and more control over their care. There are an estimated 4,000 known CAM therapies in use around the world, most notably meditation, yoga, tai chi and acupuncture. The most popular among patients, however, are vitamins, herbal supplements, essential oils and nutraceuticals, with nearly 70% of cancer survivors using these types of products. As with any alternative therapy, it is important to assess the risks. Particularly with vitamins and other supplements, drug interactions may occur, rendering some supplements unsafe to some patients.
“[Several supplements] may influence the effectiveness of chemotherapy", says Fouladbakhsh “There are going to be some interactions. Ginkgo biloba, garlic, ginseng and ginger all have anticoagulant effects, so you need to take note of these if you are administering chemotherapy.”
The nurse’s role in monitoring and evaluating CAM therapies includes recording a patient’s CAM type, dose and frequency, side effects experienced, and the patient’s goals. “In our program, one of the foundational questions is, ‘what is the goal of using this therapy?’ If someone is trying to use a therapy to cure their cancer vs. maintain their hope, it’s a very different conversation about whether a therapy will work,” says Lynda Balneaves, RN, PhD, associate professor at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing in Vancouver. “A therapy may help to preserve hope, but it may not cure the cancer.”
There are wide variations among education and credentialing among CAM providers. However, the provider should be trained at an accredited school and be board certified and/or licensed. Due to CAM’s increased use in the United States, nursing curricula, such as for the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) are beginning to include CAM information, and advanced practice holistic nurse certifications are now being offered.
Disclosure: Judith Fouladbakhsh, PhD and Lynda Balneaves, RN, PhD report no relevant financial disclosures.
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