Huffington Post mentions MGH's use of CAM

Today a Huffington Post blogger writing about alternative and complementary therapies (ACTs) mentioned the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital's use of acupuncture in the treatment of cancer.   As the blog states, the National Cancer Institute maintains a library of publicly available information on complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM.  The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is another resource for primarily patient-centric CAM resources.  Much of the information available through the NCI and NCCAM is useful for individuals and families looking for information about cancer and the risks and potential benefits associated with various alternative therapies.  

While both the NCI and NCCAM provide some resources for healthcare providers (NCCAM has a dedicated page, as well as providing directed searches in PubMed), the best resource is always going to be a library, which is able to provide access to current research unavailable to the wider public as well as expert search strategies.  We here at Treadwell have a wealth of resources on complementary therapies:

• a large number of books on the topic
• access to Consumerlab, Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, and Natural Standard, databases that focus on complementary therapies and medicines (also accessible via our database page)
• a curated list of resources on CAM, licensed to the MGH community

We have these resources to support the MGH providers using acupuncture and other alternative therapies, so if you have any questions about them or how to find more information on this topic, come to us!

New Resource: Natural Standard

Treadwell Library has just subscribed to Natural Standard, a research collaboration that focuses on providing "high-quality, evidence-based information about complementary and alternative therapies." Natural Standard includes multiple databases containing information on Food, Herbs and Supplements, Health and Wellness, and the effectiveness of different forms of complementary and alternative therapies. All information in these databases is subjected to an exhaustive research process, and graded on the effectiveness current research has found significant evidence to support.

If you're interested in complementary and alternative medicine resources, Treadwell also subscribes to both ConsumerLab and Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, as well as holding a number of materials on the subject. Should you have any questions about these resources, please ask - we are happy to help!