Is this working? Outcome Measures in Practice & Education.

A strong and sustainable health profession is one which can demonstrate it’s efficacy, and thus relevance. Clinical trials are only one way of demonstrating efficacy, and are inherently problematic in generating quality evidence for herbal and naturopathic practice. So what is the alternative?Whether it be in the population-centric context of clinical trials, or the patient-centric context of one-on-one consultations, the key to determining efficacy is found in the consistent application of clinical outcome measures.But what are outcome measures, and how can they be applied in daily practice? How can clinical outcome measures be integrated into the education of herbalists and naturopaths?Ian will apply his extensive clinical and academic management experience to a discussion of these issues. He will focus on how clinical outcome measures can be used in both the formative and summative assessment of students in clinical training, thus improving learning and clinical competence. Ian will also show how, through the use of outcome measures and published case studies, each and every herbalist and naturopath can contribute to the evidence base, and thus the sustainability, of our profession.