Fundamentals of Midwifery: A Textbook for Students (133 page)

You must only supply and administer those medicines for which you have received training as to use, dosage and methods of administration.
(NMC 2012)As we have previously established, the definition of CAM is broad and constantly changing, and therefore the use of the term ‘medicine’ may be unclear in the context of some forms of CAM, for example, essential oils and aromatherapy. Midwives and student midwives are encour- aged to refer to the protocols, policies and guidelines of the organisations within which they practice for further clarification in relation to their role in the supply and administration of CAM.
Regulation
In the UK, with the exception of osteopathy and chiropractic, there is no statutory professionalregulation of CAM. This means that anyone in the UK can legally call themselves a CAM practi- tioner, and practise on patients, even if they have no training or experience, and this can create a number of challenges for midwives when women seek advice about the use of CAM. The range of training and educational courses in complementary and alternative health is vast, and mid- wives should not be expected to have unlimited knowledge about such matters; therefore when advising women on the use of CAM through a practitioner, midwives should refer women to an appropriate resource in relation to the type of therapy under discussion. There are a number of regulatory bodies which may be useful for student midwives and midwives to be aware of.The key purpose of regulatory bodies is to act in the public interest and enable proper public accountability of the complementary therapists that it registers. These voluntary regulators have a key function to enhance public protection, and strongly encourage complementary therapists on its register to be a member of a relevant professional association. Their registers are designed to enhance public safety, by giving the general public access to a list of comple- mentary therapy practitioners who have been assessed as meeting national standards of com- petence and practice. Typically, practitioners can only join these associations or registers if they hold certain qualifications, and agree to adhere to certain standards of practice. However, there is no legal requirement to join and practitioners can still offer services without being a member of any organisation. The Department of Health recommends that where people are looking forcomplementary healthcare therapists, they use someone who is registered. Midwives aren’t expected to have complete knowledge of every aspect of CAM practice, and therefore, women should be encouraged to make the use of professional bodies and voluntary registers relevant to the discipline for which they are enquiring, such as the Complementary and Natural Health- care Council (CNHC), or the British Acupuncture Council to help them find a practitioner.
Key points

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a term used to describe a wide range of
healing systems that are not considered part of mainstream or conventional Western medicine.

A complementary medicine or therapy is used in addition to, or alongside a conventional
approach, and an alternative medicine or therapy would be one which is used as a separate and different approach to healing, different from one which is generally accepted in Western medicine.

Whilst there are many references to consumer demand for CAM from childbearing women in the UK, it is not entirely clear if large numbers of childbearing women are engaging with CAM as the literature would suggest, as there have been very few primary studies which involve data collection directly from women themselves.

CAM and research evidence is an evolving area, and there is ongoing debate about the most
appropriate research methods for establishing safety and efficacy. The absence of a ‘scientific’ evidence base for the safety and efficacy of those more widely used therapies by childbearing women has the potential to impact upon the midwifery role and responsibilities.