Integrative Medicine (Essay Sample)

Integrative Medicine
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Integrative Medicine
Introduction
The present-day medical practice faces a lot of challenges ranging from economic to political interference. Halm & Katseres (2018) explains that the American political climate is focused on reducing the price of healthcare and the hour of a patient to physician interaction. It contributes to burnout among staff since healthcare is focused on treating more patients. Thornton (2017) adds that this practice endangers the patient's healing process. Little (2016) explains that while a myriad of challenges faces healthcare, technology helps integrate medical knowledge into treatment. Technology has resulted in the understanding of diagnosis, impacting patient education, and resulted in improved medical processes. However, it fails to integrate other aspects of the healing process, such as the patient's mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects. Integrative medicine, therefore, addresses the full range of physical, emotional, environmental, spiritual, environmental, and social that influence a person’s health. 
Components of Integrative Medicine
An integrative or functional approach to medicine relates to the idea that it integrates conventional medicine, technology, and a wide range of factors that influence a patient's health. Thus, unlike the traditional approach, where the emphasis is made on the practitioner's experience in managing the condition. The new approach allows the patient to be part of their healing process. As such, it first seeks to educate the patient in making an informed medical decision. According to Halm & Katseres (2018), it allows the patient to be more comfortable with their condition before healing. For instance, it is common for practitioners to treat hypertensive patients by advocating for medicine to heal them. However, with the integrative approach, the patient has to be educated to understand their condition and manage their lifestyle. Therefore, it is important to factor in the patient’s environment and how it affects their healing process. 
The concept of integrative medicine is bestowed on the notion that the patient can benefit from many modalities that might not be considered part of traditional medicine. Modern medicine faces challenges in the rise of lifestyle diseases. As such, it is important for the treatment process to consider the root cause of the infection. Several elements of lifestyle choices have been discussed by Little (2016) to impact wellbeing in later stages of life. For instance, chronic heart complications have been discussed as influenced by lifestyle choices such as obesity. As such, integrative approaches allow the practitioner to integrate other components that are beneficial to the healing process. For instance, yoga, acupuncture, and the nutritional element of food choices are applied to help heal. The inclusion of yoga and other physical practices such as meditation allows the patient to improve their concentration, mental health, and overall improvement in healing. 
Integrative medicine employs a more holistic approach to healing and wellness. Therefore, it is conducted based on;
* Caring for the whole person
* Optimal conditions of healing and recovery
* Integration of healing processes as informed by medical evidence.
* Collaboration and coordination of care 
The emphasis on care and wellness is attributed to the ideology that treatment is based on the patient and medical practices. For example, caring for the person is an understanding of different factors as interrelated and coordinated in the healing process. The patient who might suffer from chronic obesity is understood to have different attitudes, information, and practice regarding their lifestyle. Recognizing the inseparability of these factors to environment and culture allows the practitioner to develop a multi-professional approach to care. It instigates the rise of collaboration and coordination of different professionals in the healing process. 
No single profession has the experience and expertise required to assist a patient with interconnected social, psychological, and physical challenges to health. Frisch & Rabinowitsch (2019) discusses that people are faced with different cultures and information that affects their adoption of medical practices and informed health decisions in the current society. The modern challenges to health and well-being have shifted the healthcare practice to a more holistic model involving maintenance, prevention, and promotion of health, requiring input from a broad array of health professionals. This includes physicians, nurses, dietitians, physical and alternative therapists. The foundation of integrated medicine has been outlined by the institute of medicine (IOM), indicating the need to coordinate care among a multitude of providers. Thus, developing a well-functioning team is a crucial objective in the healthcare system. 
Future Implications of the Integrative Model of Health Care
Integrative healthcare models emphasize partnership across different departments and sectors that serve the well-being of the patient. At the same time, it recognizes the importance of the patient in their healing process. As such, it combines different professional backgrounds in a manner that acts to support a clinical decision. The experience of different health practitioners can inform decisions applied in the healing process, thus affecting the quality of service delivered to the patient. On the other hand, it helps to introduce clinical-based evidence in treatment. As explained by Frisch & Rabinowitsch (2019), integrative approaches include