EVIDENCE INFORMED PRACTICE AS THE CATALYST FOR CULTURE CHANGE IN CAM

The NCCAM-funded R25 project has provided the impetus for meaningful culture change at Northwestern Health Sciences University (NWHSU) which, over the long term, can affect the professional culture of our CAM constituents. Benefiting from a unique collaboration with the University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality and Healing, we are making substantial progress in developing our CAM professionals' research-related skill sets so that they may truly learn and practice in evidence informed ways. A large part of our success thus far is attributable to the already motivated student, faculty, and practitioner base with research-related beliefs in alignment with the project's goals. This for the most part, is unique among CAM academic institutions. Similarly, NWHSU has a remarkably engaged institutional membership at both the faculty and administrative levels who value research and are willing to commit the necessary resources to promote the advancement and growth of evidence-informed CAM practice. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.