Policy for therapeutic massage in an academic health center: a model for standard policy development.
BACKGROUND
Massage is the most common complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy used in hospitals in the United States. As such, it is often the first CAM therapy to be integrated with conventional medicine. However, few academic medical centers have a written standard policy to guide this integration. This lack of standard policy may impede institutions from offering massage therapy as a clinical service, and may put health care professionals and institutions at risk through a failure to clearly address criteria for practice credentials or malpractice liability.


OBJECTIVE
To create a clinical policy for therapeutic massage that may be used as a template for development of policy in academic health centers.


RESULTS
We present a clinical policy for therapeutic massage, developed by the University of Michigan Health System, that defines therapeutic massage, provides guidelines for the credentialing and professional conduct of massage therapists, lists indications and contraindications for therapeutic massage, and addresses malpractice in accordance with the specific culture and needs of academic health centers. This policy was created by health care professionals after review of existing evidence and consideration of national criteria for massage therapy. This policy is intended to be used as a template for the development of a standard policy for therapeutic massage by health system administrators, medical directors, and massage professionals, to support the integration of therapeutic massage within their institutions.


CONCLUSIONS
With minor modifications of this policy by individual institutions, adoption of this policy may facilitate the thoughtful integration of this CAM therapy into academic health care settings, meeting the unique requirements of academic health care institutions while serving the needs of patients.
Myklebust
Monica
M
University of Michigan Integrative Medicine, Clinical Services, Department of Family Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA. mmyklebu@umich..edu
Iler
Joanne
J
D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000458:organization & administration; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006801:Humans; D008405:Massage / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008824:Michigan; D016134:Organizational Policy; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016730:Program Development; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration