I must confess that I have only recently come across the word Integrated
Medicine.
This was because a friend of mine, knowing my propensity to check out
anything health related, recently forwarded a video to me of a passionate
qualified American Medical Doctor, who calmly suggested on video that to ensure
you remain healthy, you need to repeat positive words to yourself, 20 x 3 times
each day; and focus on your spirit, soul, mind and body at the same time!
Surely we know better here in the UK I thought! Integrated Medicine? Is that
what they call ‘positive thinking’ now in the United States?
I did a google
search just to be sure our dear NHS was still as conventional as ever. However, the
top results on google showed an integrated medicine page for the University
College London (UCL) Hospitals! UCL, a world renowned citadel of professional
medical practice! And UCL was not the only reputable NHS hospital offering
Integrated Medicine. The Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital is now called
the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine. In Glasgow, there is a
Centre for Integrative Care. And in Southern England, there’s an
integrated Centre for Health in Bristol.
Now, I have to take this Integrated Medicine issue serious. If these big
NHS hospitals are promoting Integrated Medicine, then there must be
something in it. So I got down to work to research what I can find out about
it:
Integrated Medicine is defined by the British
Society of Integrated Medicine as:
An approach to health and healing that provides patients with
individually tailored health and wellbeing programmes which are designed to
address the barriers to healing and provide the patient with the knowledge,
skills and support to take better care of their physical, emotional,
psychological and spiritual health.
Rather than limiting treatments to a specific specialty, Integrated
Medicine uses the safest and most effective combination of approaches and
treatments from the world of conventional and complementary/alternative
medicine. These are selected according to, but not limited to, evidence-based
practice, and the expertise, experience and insight of the individuals and team
members caring for the patient.
And this is aptly described by Dr David Reilly, the clinical director at
the Glasgow Integrated Medicine centre that, the work of the clinic
reflects the development work in creating new models of care especially in long
term conditions, with an emphasis on person centered,
individualized therapeutic relationships aimed at helping people enable
their own strength and self care. That must count for something!
Integrative medicine according to the non-believers however, is …er…quackery
hitting the mainstream!
It is certainly not helpful to the cause that people have pointed out
the fact that the first hospital according to history, known to practice
Integrated Medicine, was the Rudolf Hess Krankenhaus hospital in Dresden,
during the Third Reich. Nazi leaders had united alternative and conventional
medicine under the umbrella of ‘Neue Deutsche Heilkunde’, New German Medicine,
a concept which resembles our new integrated medicine of today, in so many
ways.
The hospital’s practice ended up being a total failure and many felt it
lacked scientific credibility and also common sense approach. Ouch!
It seems that any therapy that is typically excluded by conventional
medicine or that patients use instead of conventional medicine, is known as
“alternative medicine.” It’s a catch-all term that includes hundreds of old and
new practices ranging from acupuncture to homeopathy to
iridology. Generally alternative therapies are closer to nature, cheaper and
less invasive than conventional therapies, although there are exceptions. Some
alternative therapies are scientifically validated, some are not. An
alternative medicine practice that is used in conjunction with a conventional
one is known as a “complementary” medicine. Example: using ginger syrup to
prevent nausea during chemotherapy. Together, complementary and alternative
medicines are often referred to by the acronym CAM.
Using synthetic drugs and surgery to treat health conditions was known
just a few decades ago as, simply, “medicine.” Today, this system is
increasingly being termed “conventional medicine.” This is the kind of medicine
most people still encounter in hospitals and clinics. Some people, particularly
the younger and more adventurous generation, reckon that conventional medicine
is overated, can be expensive and invasive, although it may be very good in
some situations e.g. in emergency situations like heart attacks; stroke or a
car accident. According to Dr. Weil, himself a practitioner of Integrated
Medicine, “If I were hit by a bus,” he says, “I’d want to be taken immediately
to a high-tech emergency room.”
When a House of Lords (UK) scientific committee investigated
complementary medicine (CM) a few years ago, it predictably highlighted the
lack of proper evidence for the efficacy of treatments. But the report did not
stop there but went ahead to warm about unregulated quacks and the dangers of
seeking complementary (integrated medicine) treatment in place of conventional
diagnosis.
None of this bothers the CM practitioners much.
"I am not sure how much credibility these pointy-heads have,"
snorts Dr Michael Dixon, a trustee of the Prince of Wales's Foundation for
Integrated Medicine and a visiting professor in integrated health at the
University of Westminster. The efficacy of complementary treatments, he
insists, simply cannot be measured by standard scientific
"double-blind" tests in a lab.
He is equally unfazed by the most common accusation: that CM only
produces a placebo effect. "Sometimes, perhaps, the treatments may be
symbolic and just appeal to people's imaginations," he says. "In
practice, we are pragmatists. If something works, that is fine."
While many may sniff at the usefulness of Integrated Medicine and call
the practitioners quacks, my final note on it would be, if the practice saves a
life, then surely it is worth considering. There is no harm in anyone checking
out various treatment options and evaluating in clear terms the pros and cons
of the different treatment options. The more treatment options are available
for a condition, the better the chances. However, quackery and giving of false
hopes or falsifying testimonials and results is to be frowned at, by both
practitioners of conventional medicine as well as integrated medicine.
And when next you are looking at UCL’s website, do check out their
integrated medicine unit link. It shows they handle among others: Acupuncture,
hypnosis, mindfulness, etc. The one service that I was most unclear about was
the ‘Women service’. Whatever can that be? Of certainty, it would be something
quite important and may be a lifeline to many people. But with ‘women service’
as a title, nothing could be more vague. If you do find out about it,
please send me a comment! I’ll be interested to know about this women service!
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