Complementary and Alternative Medicine/Healthcare
Graduate Certificate Program

The CAM Graduate Certificate Program is available to all applicants who hold a Masters degree or higher, and those students matriculated in a graduate program within the School of Nursing or other health sciences. Most courses are open to all students for use as elective within their program of study. A UW SoN Graduate Certificate in Advanced Practice Nursing will be awarded by the UW Graduate School upon successful program completion.

This certificate will prepare students as integrative healthcare specialists with advanced knowledge in obtaining accurate information from patients about CAM use, discussing CAM therapies that patients are using or considering, and providing guidance in patients' decision-making. It will enhance students' understanding of wellness, health promotion, CAM therapies and evidence related to their safety and efficacy, and issues surrounding obtaining such evidence, all within the context of cultural competence, collaboration, and cost effectiveness.

CAM therapy consists of comprehensive and diverse services, practices, and products that are not currently considered as conventional approaches to care. Specifically, complementary therapy is used with conventional (allopathic) therapy, whereas alternative therapy is used in place of allopathic therapy. Assessment and discussion of CAM by advanced practice nurses is an important way of providing holistic patient care-a value held by nurses for many years. Each of the five domains of CAM modalities (as categorized by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, NCCAM) will be addressed in this certificate program:

• Alternative medical systems (an entire system of theory and practice outside conventional medicine, e.g. Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic Medicine, homeopathy, naturopathy)
• Mind-body interventions (e.g. meditation, prayer for health, mental healing)
• Biologically-based treatments (e.g. specialized diets, herbal products, other natural products)
• Manipulative and body-based methods (e.g., chiropractic, massage)
• Energy medicine (e.g. Qi Gong, Reiki, therapeutic touch)

The CAM certificate program includes critical thinking, assessment, and an experiential component, consistent with CAM elements identified by the Institute of Medicine that should be taught to allopathic providers. The certificate program consists of required and elective courses consists of required and elective courses, all with distance learning options, and optional clinical experiences, culminating with a capstone project. For matriculated students, the capstone could be part of the MN thesis/project, PhD dissertation, or DNP capstone project. The CAM certificate program requires students to have an overview of CAM modalities and their evidence base; methods of integration of CAM modalities into allopathic disease and symptom management; and culturally competent health practices requisite to caring for our diverse minority groups.

Sample Curriculum Grid

• Admissions
• Certificate Program Costs
• CAM Certificate Affiliated Faculty
• Current CAM certificate Student Forms

Links of interest:

Graduate Certificate Contact

Marilyn Hammer, DC, MN, RN, PhC
Dept. of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems
Phone: 206-616-3858
E-mail: mjh40 at u dot washington dot edu

or

Amy Arnold
ala7 at u dot washington dot edu

Funded by Division of Nursing, Bureau of Health Professions, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Health Resources & Services Administration. Advanced Education Nursing Grant Program. Grant #D09HP07358. Complementary and Alternative Medicine / Healthcare (CAM): An Integrative Approach