Int J Circumpolar Health. 1998 ; 57 Suppl 1(): 62-6.

Traditional healing and allopathic medicine: issues at the interface.

Eby D.

Alaska Native Medical Center, Anchorage, USA.

There is increasing interest in Native traditional healers and the possibility of their working in some form of relationship with the allopathic medical system. It represents a resurgence of effort in an area of great potential benefit to the Native community, but is rife with issues that could destroy the effort at any number of stages in the process. Issues related to professional and institutional responsibility, the power of medicalization, physical and philosophical interactions of the systems of healing, measures of effectiveness, issues of reimbursement, and many more must be dealt with in an intentional and thorough manner if the process is to be successful.