Setting the record straight about integrative medicine

Published May 3, 2017

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There have been some remarks made on Twitter in the past few days about the lack of credentials of several medical doctors (myself included).

These tweets have called these doctors “quacks” and the Pan African Conference on Integrative Medicine taking place at Spier this weekend, a “quackery conference”. These tweets are uninformed opinions and could be construed as hate speech. Integrative medicine:

– Uses the most natural and least invasive approaches to facilitate healing.

– It is guided by scientific, experiential and traditional evidence, and employs strategies best suited to each patient.

– It neither rejects conventional medicine, nor accepts alternative therapies uncritically.

– It recognises the holistic nature of the physical-energetic-informational system of each individual, and that each person is different.

– It also reaffirms the relationship between the practitioner and the patient, who work together.

– All factors that influence health, wellness and disease are considered.

– Integrative medicine treats systems as a whole.

Doctors practising integrative medicine use:

– Education about lifestyle changes.

– Evidence-based therapies that will restore the functional integrity of the biochemical system.

– Bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, and other compounded products manufactured by compounding pharmacies, where applicable.

– Intravenous therapies including vitamins, minerals and other nutraceuticals, where applicable.

– Neuro-muscular stimulation using needles/injections or low-energy laser. (Not acupuncture.)

– Pharmaceutical drugs.

– Surgery.

Globally, the medical system is in jeopardy owing to the high cost of treating chronic disease, and perceptions among the public regarding poor outcomes. The rise in chronic disease trends and related health-care spending around the world is unsustainable.

Integrative medicine is not to be confused with Complementary and Alternative medicine (CAM).

Although some medical doctors are dually registered with the Allied Health Professions Council of SA , this is independent of their practice of integrative medicine.

There are also many naturopathic and homeopathic doctors registered with the council who practise integrative medicine. The vast majority of medical doctors practising integrative medicine are not registered with the council. We recognise that certain complementary professions are registered with the council, and have defined scope.

The majority of integrative medical doctors do not practise CAM, thus are not infringing on the scopes of practice of professions registered with the council, and do not practise elements of those professions unless (dually) registered to do so.

David M Nye

Chairman of the South African Society for Integrative Medicine

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