Continuing Education for Physicians

When was the last time you went to your physician and he or she understood the natural care product or process you were using on the recommendation of your practitioner? Did you even tell your physician about it?

According to sources such as the New England Journal of Medicine, two thirds of Americans use Complementary and Alternative modalities. That is two hundred million Americans. If you are a physician, chances are good that your patients from age 0 to 100 are likely taking something from the wellness industry rather than, or in addition to, a drug from the illness industry.

To all the physicians out there: what do you know about homeopathy, acupuncture, naturopathy, rolfing, or any other number of natural medicine modalities? Do you ask your patients questions? Or do you dismiss them as being ineffective. Do your patients even tell you?

In 1999, Joseph B. Martin, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard Medicine School said that there is an urgent need for physicians in the US and other western countries to understand complementary and alternative medicines, to find out what kinds of therapies their patients are using and to see how they work and interact with medicines they are prescribing.

So why, eight years later, are so many physicians still completely in the dark about most natural modalities?

As a classical homeopath, most of my clients don’t even tell their doctors they are seeing me. If they do, they often get badgered by their physicians, or their choice of modality gets dismissed with an eye roll and some talk of there being no evidence. (There is much evidence of the effectiveness of homeopathy—you can’t just say there isn’t and expect it to be true). Or, they experience something similar to what I experienced: “Some of the remedies are okay,” said my doctor. When pressed, he was unable to say which ones are okay. If he understood homeopathy at even the simplest level, he would know how really foolish his response was.

Many women seek classical homeopathy for help with hormonal issues at various stages of their lives. It may come as a surprise to some that I have, from time to time, recommended bio-identical hormones from a compounding pharmacy. One client asked her doctor about it. Her physician said that she didn’t know anything about it so she was unwilling to assist her in ordering the tests so she could benefit from these hormones. My first thought upon hearing this was, “Why aren’t you learning about this? If you are an OB/Gyn, you ought to be in a class, getting educated on the latest therapies to help your patients. Does it really matter what the source of the help is?” The result of this lack of knowledge: my client is eternally grateful to me for suggesting it and loves her new doctor.

I encourage all physicians to get educated by whatever means you can find. Take a class offered by someone who is actually in the trenches, working with the modality you want to learn about. It doesn’t mean you have to practice that modality—just learn enough so you can be respectful to your patients, to not look like a fool, and not cause them to be uncertain about something that has been helping. When your patient says they are taking a homeopathic medicine, it would behoove you to know, for example, that there are no drug interactions with homeopathic remedies.

Here’s another option: ask your patient for the card of their practitioner and pick up the phone and call. I have been called exactly one time in over six years by a physician to inquire about a remedy I had given a client. Someone who is a true healer, who is really concerned about the best interest of his or her patients will take the time to learn all they can about their patients, their health, and what is really helping them.

Kathryn Z Berg, MA, PCH, is a classical homeopath in Oakdale and Woodbury, MN. She is owner of Lotus Homeopathy and teaches many classes giving physicians, nurses, dentists and other allied health professionals the opportunity to learn about homeopathy. She can be reached at www.lotushomeopathy.com. Additional thoughts can be found at http://lotusladyblog.blogspot.com.