Background For CAM to feature prominently in health care decision-making there is a need to expand the evidence-base and to further incorporate economic evaluation into research priorities. In a world of scarce health care resources and an emphasis on efficiency and clinical efficacy, CAM, as...

The burden of rising health care expenditures has created a demand for information regarding the clinical and economic outcomes associated with complementary and alternative medicines. Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials have found Hypericum perforatum preparations to be superior to...

Respondents were prepared to pay a higher price than the market price of a standard helmet. To improve the quality of helmets in Vietnam, it is recommended that the government subsidize a helmet programme in conjunction with other programmes (such as education and strict enforcement policies) in...

In recent years what can loosely be described as a sociology of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has begun to emerge. Although work has been conducted with lay therapists, orthodox practitioners, and consumers, overall, research in this area remains patchy and underdeveloped. Despite...

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is strongly shaping the nature and direction of biomedical practice and organisational culture. Clinicians are now expected to adopt the principles of EBM and evidence-based practice (EBP) whilst also maintaining such things as professional autonomy, clinical...

An enhanced role for primary health care (PHC) is currently a matter of political priority in the UK. This higher profile is drawing attention to a range of unresolved challenges and issues, relating to both the structure and content of provision, which currently permeate the system. Running in...

Accompanying patients from active treatment towards specialist palliative care is a complex sphere of clinical practice that can be fraught with interpersonal and emotional challenges. While medical specialists are expected to break ‘bad news’ to their patients and ease their transitions to...

The increased availability of medicines transnationally and patients’ preparedness to procure these medicines from a range of sources raise important issues for the safe use of medicines. Further research is needed to understand how patients forge their own transnational therapeutic regimes,...