first braindroppings from one more integrative medical doctor

Let me go for the jugular as I start my blogging career:

[By the way, go to www.hugorodier.com to see where I am coming from. After all, you may think this is more rantings from yet another "quack," which is why I will not use the word "alternative."]

Why is it that most medical doctors are not stampeding to join the ranks of physicians who are getting more training to integrate themselves into the medicine of the future?

Surely, docs are interested in caring for patients. Yet, why are some docs dismissing what their patients report about their experiences with non-pharmaceuticals issues?

Surely docs are interested in science. Yet, why are some of them ignoring the articles on integrative issues coming out by the dozens, each week, in their own medical journals? [By the way, click on my "newsletter," where I listed a recent sample of my review of 150 medical journals each month.]

Surely docs are interested in the community, in working environments, and in the issues that touch patients' health. Yet, why do some of them focus on a pharmaceutical approach only, leaving out anything else pertaining to health, specifically, nutrition?

Doctor-haters will be quick to answer that docs are bad people, that they are not interested in health, but disease. Personally, I do not believe this is the case. As an integrative doc, I am closely associated with a medical school, and my practice is backed up by dedicated physicians taking call with me. So, I am of the opinion that the vast majority of docs want to help patients, and that most of them have been called to serve people, as I often see as a member of the Admission's Committee at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

I feel the main reason some docs are not anxious to join the medicine of the future, integrative medicine, is extremely simple: they fear that their livelihood may be threatened.

Look within your own heart. Whatever field you are in, you may be hearing footsteps behind you. It may be a new technology, more computer learning, younger and more up-to-date competitors, shifting economies, political issues at work, outsourcing to India, hostile take-overs, and maybe immigration. Most people today fear for their jobs. In the world we live in, we are one step away from losing our jobs [Read "The world is flat," 2006, Friedman.]

It is the same with doctors. The explosion of knowledge in Nutrition in general, and Nutragenomics in particular is poised to overtake the clinical practice of medicine. Patients sense this, and they want their docs to guide them through this maze of new information, because, they correctly perceive their M.D.s as the captains of the health-care team, however chaotic it may be today.

So, docs are facing a major shift in paradigm, which threatens their livelihood, as well it should. Blaming them for these normal feelings is counter-productive. They would like to find someone who they could trust to learn from, since these issues are, for the most part, not part of the curriculum in medical schools. Having been through the same training, and having taken the time to explore the literature very meticulously, I would like to offer my services to provide objective clinical evidence, from medical journals, that integration of non-pharmaceutical issues, particularly nutrition, is the future of health care in our country.

Also, my clinical experience with thousands of patients, gives me applied cases where I see these somewhat abstract issues come to life, resulting in patients getting off their prescription medications, by changing their lifestyles and diets.

My approach to integrative medicine is a bit different from other integrative physicians. First. I do not sell any products. Second, I integrate the humanities, literature, public health, politics, etc., to the practice of health. A patient's culture and community are critical to his/her health. Third, I review 150 medical journals each month, cutting across all specialties. Scientific evidence is a must in this dynamic field.

Welcome.