Commentary on Smith GD (2011) editorial: Evaluation of CAM interventions. Journal of Clinical Nursing 20, 921-922.

摘要

I was stimulated by the recent editorial by Smith (2011) on the need for good quality research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for nurses. The piece also highlighted the role of clinical nurses in actively conducting valid research into the effectiveness of CAM and advocating methodologies including 'complex interventions'. Smith's discussion and review of CAM research methods are a useful contribution. It will help to make practitioners and researchers aware of the inherent problems. Whether the problems are different where the research is being carried out by clinical nurses is debatable - it is the methods and conclusions that matter. There is, however, an important body of CAM research - not discussed in the editorial - that has emerged from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry led by Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine.