Der Merkurstab | März/April 2018 | 16,00 Euro (inkl. Mwst., zzgl. Versandkosten)
Artikel | Scientific relevance of the Vademecum of Anthroposophic Medicines |
Autor | Harald J. Hamre |
Seiten | 120-124 |
Volume | 71 |
Zusammenfassung
The Vademecum of Anthroposophic Medicines (Anthroposophic Medi -
cinal Products, AMPs), 4th edition, covers 627 AMP groups with 1,778
indications, recommendations for use and other core information. The
Vademecum is based on a systematic survey and analysis of physicians’
clinical experiences with the respective AMPs. While originally developed
as a practical tool for physicians, the Vademecum can also be used for
scientific purposes.
AMP treatment involves more than 1,000 products, used in different ways.
Accordingly, there are thousands of therapy options that cannot be evaluated
in clinical studies or high-quality case reports. Therefore, for most
indications of AMPs, physician reports of their clinical experience with the
AMP remain the best available evidence for efficacy/effectiveness. In order
to secure the continued existence of the body of AMPs in the future, such
evidence is needed. And here the Vademecum can have a purpose.
Compared to many other experiential reports of AMP therapy, the Vademecum
has a number of strengths: Participation of 274 anthroposophic
physicians of different specialties from 19 countries; systematic detailed
survey; critical assessment of all experiential reports by an independent,
interdisciplinary panel; explicit use also of experiences of lack of efficacy;
enhancement by a comprehensive, representative literature database;
independence of industry.
An important limitation, compared to clinical studies, stems from the
design (retrospective overall assessment of the AMP therapy option
instead of prospective documentation of consecutive patients). In the
domain of physicians’ experiential treatment reports, the Vademecum
has set standards which other experiential reports will have to be
judged by.