The patient, the patient, the patient! It’s all about the patient. As a physician, or for that matter any sort of healer, we must never lose our focus as to our most important mission. It is to use our knowledge, experience, listening skills, examination findings, referral network, and test results to help every patient reach his or her maximal potential in mind, body, and spirit. Mother Theresa had a wonderful saying: “one, by one, by one.” Also, in medicine, we must realize that each patient is unique and different, and what therapy one patient responds to, another may not.
Integrative medicine, also called complimentary medicine, attempts to do just that. It is individualized, patient focused, open minded, evidence based, and outcomes oriented. It has an expanded toolbox of therapies. Too many times in this world we tend to put up walls, which define traditional turf battles. The Hatfields hate the McCoys, The Tutsies battle with the Hutus. Alabama and Auburn fans aren’t always the best of friends on game day. Thereto in medicine, healers sometimes lose focus on what is important. Instead of an open- minded search for the best treatment for the patient, we tend to look at the possibilities through a narrowly focused set of glasses. To a hammer, all the world looks like a nail. Likewise, many healers can’t look past their own discipline, training, and bias to consider other modalities, which may ultimately produce the best result for the patient.
Traditional western medicine is a marvel of scientific endeavor. Were it not for this amazing medical discipline, I and many of my family members would not be alive today. I stand in awe of many of the modern high tech capabilities of today’s doctors. However, I and other integrative medicine practitioners also realize that there are also other modalities, which have been utilized for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years, which should also be considered while devising the patient’s treatment plan. These modalities may include nutritional therapies, detoxification, mind body therapies, massage, spiritual healing, breath work, hormone balancing, neurotransmitter adjustment, and acupuncture.
I have personally had patients who have responded well with Acupuncture, who had previously found no relief at vaunted medical institutions such as Mayo Clinic.
I do believe that integrative medicine is the wave of the future. Little by little, patients finding that the old model of “sick care” is not working for them. They get sick, go to the doctor, and get on pill after pill. They are awakening to a new approach, which is true wellness medicine. They are demanding a change, and the medical community is starting to listen. Ten years ago integrative medicine was not on the radar screen. Now you will find that Harvard, Duke, Mayo Clinic, Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Cleveland Clinic (just to name a few) all have integrative medical clinics. The tide is slowly turning toward a more open minded and inclusive form of medicine, and in the long run doctors and patients will both benefit.