Alternative & Complementary Medicine 

In the field of healthcare and medicine, the role of alternative and complementary medication is to help individuals obtain healing, minimize pain and obtain maximum health. Therefore, some alternative and complementary medications include allopathic medicine and holistic and complementary medicine. Different patients and health care providers have different prospects of using any approach depending on the benefits, advantages, and disadvantages of medications (Hamed et al., 2020). Alternative medication is the use of those methods that are distinct from the conventional approach. The alternative medication includes the use of Chinese medication, herbs, acupuncture, chiropractic, and homeopathy medications.

            The alternative and complementary medication represent those products that are not in the protocol for standardized medical care. For instance, those patients with cancer take these medications to help minimize the side effects of chemotherapy such as fatigue, pain, nausea, and vomiting. The medication also helps to minimize the stress-related symptoms and cancer therapy and trying to see if they can cure the disease. The integrative medicine approach combines CAM with conventional medications and the pharmacodynamics have been revealed to be safer and more effective (Seet et al., 2020). The medication helps to cater for the spiritual, mental, and physical health of the patient. The complimentary medications such as acupuncture aid to minimize the side effect of conventional mediation. The alternative medications that are used for cancer patients include a special diet instead of chemotherapy drugs.

The complementary and alternative medicine includes the mind and body therapies that entails meditation, biofeedback in monitoring the heart rate and blood pressure, hypnosis to promote calmness and openness, yoga, and tai chi which include controlled breathing, and imagery and creative outlets. The biologically targeted practices include vitamins to maintain the body healthy with normal physiology, dietary supplements, and botanicals such as turmeric and cinnamon (Chowdhuri & Kundu, 2020). In addition, examples of body-based and manipulative practice are massage therapy, chiropractic therapy, and reflexology which is the application of pressure to specific body parts.

            Several complementary and alternative therapies have been through a careful evaluation and are effective and safe like meditation, yoga, and acupuncture. However, some therapy may reduce the efficacy of chemotherapy while others may become harmful to the body. Some alternative supplements may be harmful to the body when they are taken alone or in large doses. For example, kava kava that is used to minimize stress may cause hepatotoxicity while for cancer patients it may lower the potency of the medication (Tangkiatkumjai et al., 2020). Several clinical trials are ongoing to study the side and adverse effects of some complementary medications that are used. Some studies also are doing a comparison of conventional medications and other alternative therapies.

            Allopathic medicine is used to describe modern medicine also known as conventional medicine or biomedicine. This therapy is prescribed by medical officers, pharmacists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. The treatment is provided through administering medication, radiation therapy, and surgery. Allopathic medications can be used to provide preventive care such as vaccinations and probiotics, and curative care such as analgesics and biotics to manage infections (Brodt et al., 2018). As a healthcare provider, I would not have concerns about allopathic medications because they are prescribed by health professionals, they are prescribed upon assessment and laboratory tests, they are extensively researched and tested and they are more effective.

References

Brodt, E., (Ojibwe), Bruegl, A., (Oneida, Stockbridge-Munsee), Thayer, E. K., Eiff, M. P., Gonzales, K., (Cherokee), Crespo, C., Spector, D., (Nez Perce), Kamaka, M., (Native Hawaiian), Carpenter, D. A., (Native Hawaiian), & Carney, P. A. (2018). Concerning trends in allopathic medical school faculty rank for Indigenous people: 2014-2016. Medical education online, 23(1), 1508267. https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2018.1508267

Chowdhuri, P. D., & Kundu, K. (2020). Factors determining the choice of complementary and alternative medicine in acute and chronic diseases. Journal of complementary & integrative medicine, 17(3), 10.1515/jcim-2019-0105. https://doi.org/10.1515/jcim-2019-0105

Hamed Abdalla, M., Ali, A. M., & Loong, L. (2020). The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among cancer patients at a tertiary hospital in Malaysia. Complementary therapies in medicine, 50, 102343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2020.102343

Seet, V., Abdin, E., Vaingankar, J. A., Shahwan, S., Chang, S., Lee, B., Chong, S. A., & Subramaniam, M. (2020). The use of complementary and alternative medicine in a multi-ethnic Asian population: results from the 2016 Singapore Mental Health Study. BMC complementary medicine and therapies, 20(1), 52. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-020-2843-7

Tangkiatkumjai, M., Boardman, H., & Walker, D. M. (2020). Potential factors that influence usage of complementary and alternative medicine worldwide: a systematic review. BMC complementary medicine and therapies, 20(1), 363. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-020-03157-2

RESPOND TO EACH QUESTION WITH AT LEAST 250 WORDS and 1 Reference

Evaluate the intangibles they found for DargeanGrix, and determine whether their approach to placing a value on the intangibles is a reasonable approach

Question 1 (Sophia V)

Intangible benefits are something that is not measurable, and they are considered soft benefits in that it creates goodwill and buy-in among employees (iSixSigma). Intangible assets do not get physical existence, but it adds to a company’s future value or worth and can be more valuable than tangible assets (Murphy, 2022). An example of an intangible benefit is IT department expertise because if you have good IT department and your laptop is functioning smoothly, we do not think how valuable they are. However, when our laptop starts not to work properly, we rely so much on IT to fix the issues immediately. The three intangible elements in the DargeanGrix business scenario are communication, experience, and reduced stress. Communication, experience, and reducing stress are intangibles because they are something that is not measurable, but they attribute to the overall process improvements, such as employee morale, and customer satisfaction (iSixSigma).

Communication is important across the organization and with customers. “To communicate is to convey information, thoughts, or feelings, in a manner that allows them to be received and understood by the receiver” (Alberto & Mercedes, 2022, pg. 90). The communication can be through email, phone calls, or even text messages with both internal and external stakeholders. Although communication is not measurable, effective and concise communication will improve collaboration across different stakeholders. In the evolving world of a digital environment, it is common for organizations to communicate via email, and instead of phone calls, the team members usually text each other. The value can be assigned to communication in how communication helps connect the dots between internal and external stakeholders. Effective communication can allow learning about process improvement for an organization and can transfer knowledge to keep everyone connected (Ahlin & Slumpi, 2015). An organization with great communication will have a powerful impact in keeping its employees engaged and excited about the work they do.

The experience is about how someone feels, and it is difficult to measure. For example, an experience we had when we are visiting a theme park is something that cannot be measurable, but it is an example of intangibles (Spacey, 2014). Organizations want to keep their employees happy and satisfied, and the salary alone does not help in retaining the employees (Shethna, 2022). The value can be assigned if the organization brings in employees with a lot of experience or intrapreneurs who want to make changes for the better. If the employees feel a good experience about the organization they work for, they are less likely to leave the organization so these organizations have less turnover in their employees. When you have less turnover, the organization is not spending more money on hiring and advertising for jobs. Also, when the customers have a good experience with a particular company, they will likely get more business from customers which in turn increases the revenue of the company.

The reducing stress cannot be measured but increased stress in a workplace will drive many employees to leave the workplace. The increased stress will cause other underlying problems for employees so there are chances that the people will call out sick from work. When you have more sick calls, the workplace becomes less productive, and the projects will begin to fall behind. When you have an organization with reduced stress for the employees, the employees will feel healthier and more refreshed. They will be more productive in the workplace and more productivity can improve their workflow. Therefore, reducing stress in a workplace is an intangible benefit that will improve the quality of work and overall employee satisfaction.

QUESTION 2 (Christopher Hawkins)

After reviewing the DargeanGrix Business Scenario, identify at least three intangible elements found in the scenario. Explain why you believe they are intangibles, and describe how you would go about assigning value to those elements.

Business value is mainly driven by intangible assets. Intangible assets makeup on average 85 percent of the value for companies (Heitman, 2016). Intangible assets are the job activities and tasks that are performed by knowledge workers in an organization (Heitman, 2016). In the DargeanGrix Business Scenario there are several intangible elements presented in the scenario. The first intangible element in the business scenario is the intangible cost of wasted meeting time when troubleshooting issues with the disparate video conferencing technologies (University of Arizona Global Campus, n.d.). The second intangible element is the intangible benefit of reducing client and employee call frustration by implementing a new video conferencing technology (University of Arizona Global Campus, n.d.). The third intangible element is the intangible benefit of increasing call productivity and effectiveness through the use of the new technology (University of Arizona Global Campus, n.d.). These are all intangible elements because they do not have a physical form and are related to job activities (Spacey, 2018). 

It is important to strive to assign value to the intangible elements to be able quantify the impact of each element. For the first intangible element of wasted meeting time when troubleshooting it would be helpful to determine on average the amount of time wasted on this activity per week per employee and multiply that number by 52 and 500 to determine the amount of time wasted for all employees annually. Next, it would be helpful to determine the average total headcount cost per employee and multiply that by the amount of time wasted for all employees annually to best be able to quantify the intangible cost. For the second intangible element of reducing client and employee call frustration it would be beneficial to conduct surveys over employee call frustration before implementing the new product to determine the overall employee satisfaction rating. Then it would be helpful to conduct the same survey after the new technology is implemented to measure whether the overall employee satisfaction rating improved to determine the value of this intangible benefit. The last intangible element is increasing call productivity and effectiveness by implementing the new technology. It would be helpful to record the amount of time calls take and the amount of tasks accomplished before the new technology is implemented. Then once the new technology is implemented it would be important to record the same metrics. The amount of time saved and the delta of the amount of tasks completed can be determined by comparing the before and after results of the metrics. Once these values are determined then the amount of hours during calls that were saved and the amount of hours to complete the tasks that was saved can be multiplied by the average headcount cost to determine the value of the intangible benefit.

It is important for companies to not only take into account the tangible costs and benefits when deciding whether to implement a new technology or update a process but to also consider the intangible elements as well. Therefore, it is essential for companies to determine the intangible costs and benefits and measure the value of every element when evaluating projects.