To the Editor: The article by Dr
Wetzel et al1 stated that 75 US medical schools (64%)
offered courses in CAM.
To determine the availability of CAM education in Japan, we performed a
telephone survey to all 80 Japanese medical schools for Western
medicine in September 1998. The participants were curricular office
workers at each medical school. We calculated the number of CAM courses
and the departments that offered these courses. We defined CAM as
therapies and health products other than Western medicine. Of 79
medical schools (98.8% response rate), 18 (22.8%) offered elective or
required courses involving CAM. Of the 19 courses reported, 5 courses
were taught by 4 departments and 1 lecture was taught by a company that
manufactures herbal medicine. Four departments taught 1 course each and
included the departments of philosophy, ethics, biochemistry, and
Japanese oriental medicine. Six courses (31.6%) were in the department
of anesthesia, and 2 courses each (10.5%) were in the departments of
internal medicine, psychiatry, pharmacology, and physiology.