Courses that allow unlicensed practitioners to attend them generally require that students seek coursework in anatomy, physiology, and pathology at local colleges.

Although clinical training is not a part of most homeopathic programs at present, a common part of the training is the obser vation of homeopathic casetaking on video. Instructors start and stop the video to discuss nuances of casetaking and case analy sis. Also, students are required to take cases and provide analysis of them, with treatment plans, to their instructors.

Naturopathic education is considerably more structured and detailed. Similar pre-med requirements to get into medical school are required to get into naturopathic school. Naturopath ic medical school itself is a four-year full-time program in which the first two years resemble basic science and pathology training that takes place in medical schools. Years three and four, however, are considerably different, for this is when naturopathic students are taught various natural therapies, of which homeopathy is one of the most popular. Approximately 1,000 hours of clinical training is also provided.

Some students and practitioners of homeopathy are unlicensed in any health profession. While some homeopathic training pro grams require that students have one of the recognized health professional licenses, the majority of homeopathic training programs provide education to anyone who is interested.

In addition to the above mentioned training programs, there are a select number of correspondence courses in homeopathy. Two of the leading correspondence courses were developed in England. Both are two-year programs, one is 350-hours per year and the other is 1,000 hours per year.

There are also mail-order naturopathic programs in which homeopathy is a part; however, these programs are not highly respected, and graduates of these programs are not allowed to sit for licensing examinations for naturopaths in any state, nor are they able to obtain certification from leading homeopathic certi fication bodies.

The homeopathic certification that exists includes certifi cation for MDs, DOs, and DDSs (American Board of Homeotherapeu tics), for NDs (Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians), for any licensed health professional (Council on Homeopathic Certification), and for anyone who completes a recognized school of homeopathy (North American Society of Homeopaths).

Finally, it should be noted that interest in homeopathy amongst health professionals is growing, and it can be expected that there will be a significant increase in the quantity and quality of homeopathic training in the coming years. One survey of A.M.A. members surprisingly discovered that close to 50% were interested in training in homeopathy (Berman, Hartnoll, Singh, et al, 1997). Needless to say, as homeopathy attains greater popu larity and respect from the general public and the medical commu nity, increasingly higher standards of education will be demanded.

References:
Berman, B.M., Hartnoll, S.M., Singh, B.B., Singh, B.K. (1997, July) Homoeopathy and the US primary care physician, British Homoeopathic Journal, 86:131-138.

Fisher, P. and Ward, A. (1994, July 9) Complementary medicine in Europe, British Medical Journal, 309:107-110.

Kleijnen, J., Knipschild, P. and ter Riet, G. (1991, February 9) Clinical trials in homoeopathy, The Lancet.