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Integrative Medicine: Global Perspective
| Gundu HR Rao1* and Pratiksha G Gandhi2 | |
| 1 Emeritus Professor, Lilehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, USA | |
| 2 Chair Person, IPC Heart Care Center, Mumbai, India | |
| Corresponding Author : | Gundu HR Rao Professor, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Anesthesiology, Lillehei Heart Institute University of Minnesota, USA Tel: 9525945248 E-mail: gundurao9@gmail.com |
| Received March 15, 2014; Accepted March 27, 2014; Published March 29, 2014 | |
| Citation: Rao GHR and Gandhi PG (2014) Integrative Medicine: Global Perspective. J Homeop Ayurv Med 3:150. doi: 10.4172/2167-1206.1000150 | |
| Copyright: © 2014 Gundu HR, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Integrative medicine is an approach to care, which can be easily incorporated by all medical specialties and
professional disciplines including, Indian Traditional Health Systems, and by all other health care systems
worldwide. Its use will not only improve health care for patients, but also enhance the cost effectiveness of health care delivery for providers and payers and facilitate the development of universal health care for all. A practical strategy, integrative medicine puts the patient at the center (patient centric) and addresses the full range of physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental influences that affect a person’s health. Important elements of an integrative approach to health care include, engaging the patient as an informed and empowered partner and personalizing the care to best address the individual’s unique conditions, needs and circumstances. This approach is totally lacking in the modern allopathic system worldwide. The integrative approach emphasizes prevention, health maintenance and early intervention, and utilizes all appropriate, evidenced-based and personalized therapeutic approaches, to achieve optimal health and wellbeing across one’s lifespan. Although this is the basic strategy of all Indian traditional health systems, they lack evidence-based or observation-based clinical data, to support the benefits of such an approach. Global Alliance of Traditional Health Systems, a new platform that promotes integrative approach, is developing strategies to collect and collate observation-based clinical data on the safety and efficacy of Traditional Indian System of Medicine. In this presentation, we review some aspects of “Global
Perspective” on this subject and suggest ways to develop and promote this method of healthcare delivery.
