Integrative medicine and the future of medical practice


Author: Dalen, JE

Affiliation: University of Arizona, Tucson, USA
Conference/Journal: Alternative Therapies in health and medicine
Date published: 2006
Other:
 Volume ID: 12   ,  Issue ID: 2   ,  Pages: 14-15   ,  Word Count: 276  
    James E. Dalen, MD, MPH, is a professor emeritus at the

University of Arizona, Tucson. (Altern Ther Health Med.

2006(2):14-15.)



I believe that we need to make some changes in the way that

we practice medicineand I believe that the leaders in integrative

medicine should lead the way. One of the things that we need to do

is to make sure that the topics of nutrition, supplements, exercise,

stress reduction, and alternative therapies are included in the medical school curriculum and in residency training.



The practice of medicine underwent extraordinary change in the 20th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, there wasn't much science in the practice of medicine. There was lots of caring and compassion, but very little science. It was high-touch, but low-tech. When patients died, they weren't in an intensive care unit with a tube in every orifice, surrounded by strangers. They were usually at home, in their own beds, surrounded by family members and the family doctor.



The marriage of science and medicine in the 20th century resulted in spectacular advances in technology in the second half of the century that greatly improved our ability to diagnosis and treat disease.



Before the middle of the 20th century, definitive treatment for heart disease was almost non-existent. It didn't make any difference what type of heart disease a patient had. Patients with heart disease were called 'cardiac,' and the treatment was the same for all of them: low-salt diet, digitalis, and limited activity. Now

Our technology allows us to make a precise diagnosis of nearly every possible type of heart disease, and we have a specific effective treatment for each one.