ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part provides a historical context for understanding regulation and protection of the public. It demonstrates that the notion of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is fairly new in the sense that prior to the rise of biomedicine in the eighteenth century, health care was provided in an open market place of equals. The part traces the history of education and training in homoeopathy and chiropractic and shows how charismatic educational methods were pivotal to the development of the modalities. It also demonstrates that the extent to which CAMs are being integrated into medical education as part of the medical curriculum. The part examines an issue rarely discussed in academic considerations of how professions develop and change – the way that professional communities built from the aspirations and beliefs of individuals and small groups.
