Recorded presentation

Ron Hobbs, ND, School of Naturopathic Medicine, Bastyr University, 14500 Juanita Drive NE, Kenmore, WA 98028, 206-856-8592, rhobbs@bastyr.edu

The social science literature suggests that complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the Western world is similar to traditional medicine in the rest of the world. In October 2002, the American Journal of Public Health began using the neologism ‘traditional/complementary and alternative medicine’ (T/CAM) to describe this intersection of world medicine traditions. Naturopathic medicine is the only one of the physician-level professions in North American that trains its practitioners extensively in T/CAM modalities along with conventional biomedical diagnostic and therapeutic methods. With the implementation of the Naturopathic Doctor’s Act in California in 2004, 13 states, 4 provinces of Canada, and several U.S territories now regulate the practice of naturopathic medicine through licensure. This presentation will review the education and legal status of naturopathic physicians in North America, and will focus on settings in which licensed naturopathic doctors are working in integrative settings, such as the King County Natural Medicine Clinic in Kent, WA. These examples will be presented as the beginning steps in the evolution of a true integration of western biomedicine and T/CAM, along the lines envisioned by the World Health Organization’s Traditional Medicine Programme.

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