How best to explain the concept of Integrative Health to those who’ve never heard of it?
The College of Medicine’s Dr Toh Wong, a GP trainer, uses a simple graphic to convey how many elements of healthcare can work together to provide effective whole-person health…
Integrative Health aims to achieve the optimal state of health… by taking into account evidence-based conventional medical practice, evidence-based complementary and alternative health, and evidence-based self-care alongside behavioural approaches that are patient-centred, science-based, and multi-disciplinary.
The concept of Integrative Health takes into account the patient-practitioner interaction, focusing on the person as a whole and their wider community.
It’s a process that is informed by the latest scientific evidence, making use of all the appropriate preventative, therapeutic, and lifestyle approaches available.
How can it be useful to practitioners, from GPs to therapists? The study of Integrative Health enables the practitioner to more fully understand holistic health and individual patient characteristics, needs, values, and beliefs.
In turn, this allows them to guide the patient towards evidence-based practices that match the patient’s individual goals and outcomes for achieving optimal health and well-being.
