Natural Standard Presenting at MLA Annual Meeting and Exhibition

Dr. Catherine Ulbricht, Founder of the Natural Standard Research Collaboration and Senior Attending Pharmacist at Massachusetts General Hospital, will be presenting at the 2013 Medical Library Association (MLA) Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Boston, Massachusetts May 6, 2013 from 3 to 4pm.

Dr. Ulbricht's presentation will focus on an integrative approach to health and wellness. Lifestyle choices, including environment, diet, exercise, natural products, complementary and alternative medical (CAM) practices and conventional therapies, may all contribute to total body health and wellness. It is crucial that multidisciplinary health care providers and educators collaborate with patients (and pet owners) to consider all preventative and therapeutic options available towards achieving an integrative health care plan. Ideal evidence-based medical practice incorporates consumer preferences, clinical experience and scientific data to provide patients with the best health and wellness outcomes. Consolidating all of these important factors into high quality decision support tools aids practitioners and their clients to meet these goals with efficiency at the point-of-care.

Due to high utilization rates of CAM therapies, it is imperative that librarians are armed with trustworthy resources and proactively distribute efficacy and safety information to best serve their patrons.

For more information and to register for the 2013 MLA Annual Meeting and Exhibition, please visit www.mlanet.org.

Comments

[af]

Although “Self Care” is a topic students learn about in pharmacy school, I know that at my school, CAM practices are just barely touched upon. Typically, OTC medications are the focus of teaching about self treatment. I think it would be interesting if Ms. Ulbricht could encourage attendees from pharmacy schools to incorporate integrative and CAM practices into their curriculums. I am confident that many students would find it to be very helpful, especially for those of us who work in retail and are frequently asked about CAM products.

[tb]

I never would have thought that Natural Standard would present at a meeting of the Medical Library Association, but it certainly makes sense. Librarians are such an important resource to both students and professionals, and it makes sense that educating them about complimentary and alternative medicine would help disseminate information to the masses. This is especially important for medical librarians, who would greatly benefit from a presentation of this type of information. It is great to see Natural Standard working hard to bring information about CAM therapies to everyone!

[AF]

I agree that it is great that Ms. Ulbricht will be representing the Natural Standard Research Collaboration at the 2013 MLA annual meeting. Based on experience in terms of my own medical care as well as my family’s, physicians tend to approach diagnosed medical conditions with prescription drugs and may briefly encourage lifestyle changes by mentioning the importance of appropriate diet and exercise. However, patients are rarely educated about the specifics of such lifestyle alterations, and they are rarely informed about CAMs that may also aid in contributing to treating their disease states. This may sometimes be due to clinicians’ lack of knowledge in these areas, and hopefully Natural Standard’s presence at this meeting will better inform people about this integrative approach to health and wellness.

[ML]

Congrats to Natural Standard! This meeting and exhibition has some great topics. It is always important to be aware of how to give information to people with different backgrounds. The some interesting program themes include health literacy, elderly population, evidence based health policies, and even animal health.

[ac]

It is great that Natural Standard will be presenting at the Medical Library Association meeting. Librarians are a very important resource for students during their time in school. By providing librarians with this information, students will get a chance to explore and broaden their knowledge in alternative medicine.

[nb]

This is so great that Natural Standard is going to be presenting at the Medical Library Association Meeting. When I began pharmacy school, I knew nothing about natural medicines and complementary/alternative medicines and lifestyle choices to incorporate into pharmacy practice. Many of the sources I found were not from valid sources, and it was difficult to distinguish which ones were useful resources and which ones were not. Educating the professionals in the medical field on evidence-based medicine of natural medicines and CAM therapy will help further advance integrative therapy's success.