What kind of integrative medicine jobs exist for RNs?

MunoRN, RN · Feb 11, 2016

"Integrative Medicine" refers to medical practitioners who have adopted the nursing view of patient care and treatment. There is no specific area of nursing that shares integrative medicine's view of treating all aspects of a patient, that is common to nursing in general.

healtheducatorinCA · Feb 19, 2016

thanks so much, I've noticed those and I have that background with a BS in Health Education/Health Science and soon also an RN

But what about integrative health programs, let's say, for cardiac patients that need whole lifestyle makeovers and clinical care? or integrative doctors?

and anyhow, do you know if all these prefer acute experience in the beginning and how they pay?

thanks for your 2 cents!

cayenne06, MSN, CNM · Feb 19, 2016

Be careful- integrative medicine is often a code word for "alternative" medical treatments that have not stood up to scientific scrutiny. The integrative medicine practices that I know of sprinkle a bit of science based medicine over a big steaming bowl of naturopathy, homeopathy, and magical thinking.

Integrative medicine SHOULD mean creating a practice that is structured to provide high quality education on risk reduction and lifestyle modifications, offering not just standard medical care but access to dietary counseling, mental health services, smoking cessation services, and social services like signing up for medicaid, accessing govt aide programs, etc.

friendlylark · Mar 1, 2016

Hello healtheducatorinCA, I am very interested in holistic nursing as well. I am mainly interested in the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. I would be interested in Integrative Oncology as well as Ayurveda and Contemplative Care. I believe that a lot of Integrative medicine is for mental health. Contemplative Care places its focus on hospice nursing. Here is an interesting link for you to the program:

Andrew Weil: Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine

I am looking in to all of this, and still trying to find my niche in nursing. It is quite a journey! I am working in the ER and hoping to find a role in hospice nursing as well.

Anne Marie

Las Vegas, NV

cayenne06, MSN, CNM · Mar 19, 2016

Do some googling on Andrew Weil. Integrative medicine has become synonymous with allowing pseudoscience to infiltrate science based medicine.

guest03/21/16 · Mar 22, 2016

Here is the ultimate of Holistic Health .

The Quantum Doctors, Part I - Dr. Paul Drouin and Dr. Amit Goswami discuss the need for a movement from pro-materialist science to pro-consciousness science, and the crucial concept for this movement is that of the Quantum Doctor.

cayenne06, MSN, CNM · Apr 16, 2016

Here is the ultimate of Holistic Health .
The Quantum Doctors, Part I - Dr. Paul Drouin and Dr. Amit Goswami discuss the need for a movement from pro-materialist science to pro-consciousness science, and the crucial concept for this movement is that of the Quantum Doctor.

Ha. This is, indeed, the epitome of quack. Would love to sit in on their course on "quantum weight loss."

elkpark · Apr 16, 2016

Here is the ultimate of Holistic Health .
The Quantum Doctors, Part I - Dr. Paul Drouin and Dr. Amit Goswami discuss the need for a movement from pro-materialist science to pro-consciousness science, and the crucial concept for this movement is that of the Quantum Doctor.

If Quantum is a legitimate school offering legitimate education, how come it is not accredited by any legitimate, recognized, US academic accrediting body? After looking at your link, I Googled the school and found this:

"The International Quantum University of Integrative Medicine, in Honolulu, is linked to federal fugitive William Nelson, the Budapest-based manufacturer of the EPFX machine.

Nelson registered the machine with the FDA as a biofeedback device, but he and many practitioners claim it can diagnose and cure disease.

The EPFX correspondence school in Honolulu is accredited by one of Hayhurst's organizations. The school's long-distance learning courses cost up to $6,000 and offer credentials such as 'Quantum Naturopathic Certification' and 'Biofeedback Certification.'"

Teen's death hastened by practitioner who had bogus diplomas | The Seattle Times

As the old saw goes, "If it actually worked, it wouldn't be called 'alternative medicine,' it would just be called 'medicine.'"

ChrisRicci · May 2, 2016

So all you know about 'Alternative Medicine' is what you read on the internet? Shouldn't that be a clue for you? Allopathic medicine and Big Pharma will diss any treatment that they cannot make a billion $$ on. And they will lie to do it and plaster it on the internet and use their $$ to persecute dedicated and conscientious practitioners. 'Alternative' and herbal medicines have been around for centuries. Numerous currently prescribed medications were built on or made from such herbal medicines (think Metformin). Are there quacks out there? Of course there are. There are also some doctors and nurses whom I wouldn't let touch my dog, let alone myself or a family member. The UK embraces Integrative & Alternative medicine and their population tends to be healthier and their medical costs are a fraction of the US. Explain that. As a nurse you should know there is always more than one way to get results. Just because you have mainstream recognized 'credentials' doesn't mean you know everything.

cayenne06, MSN, CNM · May 2, 2016

So all you know about 'Alternative Medicine' is what you read on the internet? Shouldn't that be a clue for you? Allopathic medicine and Big Pharma will diss any treatment that they cannot make a billion $$ on. And they will lie to do it and plaster it on the internet and use their $$ to persecute dedicated and conscientious practitioners. 'Alternative' and herbal medicines have been around for centuries. Numerous currently prescribed medications were built on or made from such herbal medicines (think Metformin). Are there quacks out there? Of course there are. There are also some doctors and nurses whom I wouldn't let touch my dog, let alone myself or a family member. The UK embraces Integrative & Alternative medicine and their population tends to be healthier and their medical costs are a fraction of the US. Explain that. As a nurse you should know there is always more than one way to get results. Just because you have mainstream recognized 'credentials' doesn't mean you know everything.

I started my health care career as a home birth midwife. I was trained extensively in herbalism and homeopathy, and utilized it all the time in practice. My mom owns her own health food store. I grew up on that stuff, and used alt med almost exclusively to treat my family and my patients. I know, probably better than most, what alt med is all about.

Of course most modern medicine is derived from natural substances. We use science to isolate the desired compounds in order to standardize the dose and mitigate harm. There's a reason we don't just have a foxglove garden on the cardiac unit. And to say that something is effective because it has been used for hundreds of years is an example of the common logical fallacy of appealing to tradition. Just because something has been around for centuries or millennium does not make it effective. We made the best of what we had before the scientific method helped us see beyond the limitations of our own neural circuitry, which is inherently prone to bias and false conclusions. We used to die, all the time, before modern medicine. We are LUCKY to be worrying about diabetes and hypertension and other diseases caused by our modern lifestyle. Because before that, we worried about surviving our 8th childbirth, and we watched so many of our children suffer and die from measles and diphtheria and leukemia.

You make it sound like it is an either/or- embrace prescientific and outright pseudoscientific "medicine," or be a pill pushing cog in the medical machine. That is not the case. I strive for a holistic approach to my patients, every single day. I work with a very underserved and vulnerable population, and a holistic approach is vital. My life's work is public health and improving maternal and infant outcomes. Prescription medication is just one part of healthcare.

How do you think the business practices of Big Supplement compare to Big Pharma? Both are noxiously profit oriented to the detriment of both providers and consumers. And Big Supplement has the added bonus of being completely, disastrously, self regulated. They are knowingly pulling the wool over their customer's eyes.

Yes, there is still government subsidized quackery in the UK, Germany, our own USA, and other countries. Alt health has an amply funded lobby, just like Big pharma. Luckily, over the past couple decades, there was been wide success in changing this.

The difference in health care expenditure between us and the UK is obviously due to the insanity of the US health care system and has exactly zero to do with alternative health. We waste as much federal money on "complementary and alternative" health care as any European country- it is not a European phenomenon by any means.