Exploring Traditional Chinese Medicine in Alberta: Challenges and opportunities

Integrative medicine is commonplace across the world, but in North America, it is considered a complement, rather than a mainstay of health care delivery. In Canada, where conventional Western medicine dominates modern health practices, we explore the progress, challenges, and opportunities of complementary medical practices, in particular Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the province of Alberta. We provide a TCM policy framework and maturity model as tools to assess the overall state of TCM practices and apply them in an Albertan context. While Alberta has made significant progress in developing capacity, competence, and accountability within TCM practices, the maturity of its practices may be considered to be in their infancy compared to more developed Chinese jurisdictions and some other Canadian provinces. We highlight significant gaps and barriers that limit the potential for complementary medicine to become part of mainstream health care as safe, effective, and quality health care choices, and discuss possible next steps.