Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
www.pharmpress.com/fact
Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 495–6
The objective of this study is to determine practitioners’ assessments of barriers and facilitators to optimal healing within an integrative healthcare setting. Practitioners make up the essence of the integrated environment and yield tremendous influence on the outcomes of patients in the programme. Currently, there is little understanding of what helps or hinders practitioners working within this environment.
Qualitative data were collected by means of in-depth, semistructured interviews with 15 practitioners who worked at a comprehensive integrative care clinic in Vancouver, Canada over 5 years. Practitioners represented conventional medicine, chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, naturopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, nutrition and mind-body healing.
When asked about integrative care, practitioners focused on two levels of integration: (1) personal integration, where there is an attempt to bring balance into one’s life, and (2) team integration, where respect for the healing approaches of others leads to a sharing of ideas. The fostering of both formal and informal communication within an integrative setting was identified as the key quality needed to facilitate practitioner success and optimal health for patients. Potential barriers to achieving optimal healing were practitioners’ tendencies to value one’s own modality/practice over others and financial instability of the integrative healthcare facility.
Practitioners who have worked in an integrated setting have a unique perspective on the barriers and facilitators to optimal healing. Practitioners identified positive personal attributes of co-workers and financial viability of clinical programmes as key to success in treating patients.
