The famous physician and academician Sir William Osler described the science and art of medicine as not being distinct, but rather serving as twin berries on one stem. The U.S. health care system is a mixture of therapies proven by science with the added art of patient care.
That is, how we care for patients is as important as what we do for patients. Integrative health care combines both the art and science of medicine and is now seen by medical professionals as the future of medicine. The approach is commonly defined as health care that combines complementary and alternative medicine treatments with conventional medicine. Integrative health care seeks to take care of the physical body, the emotional body, the mental body and the spiritual body of all patients.
During the pandemic, it became clear how individual health affects collective health. As behaviors changed throughout the course of these past two years, the interconnectedness of our health became ever apparent. With isolation came decreased chances for infection, but also increases in depression and anxiety. The concept of death became real as loved ones, friends and colleagues contracted COVID.
The collective effects from this pandemic are not yet entirely realized. This includes physical, mental and spiritual health. Integrative health — that is, the care of the entire patient — is the solution. Because our health and overall well-being are contingent on people and systems that are made up of people, integrative health allows for the community made up of our diverse cadre of people to help to care for itself.
Another example of integrative health care that has been happening since the 1970s in the United States is the care provided by hospice. Each day, teams of professionals, including doctors, nurses, CNAs, social workers and chaplains, as well as complementary and alternative therapists, meet to discuss the totality of needs of each patient and their family. Unfortunately, patients often must wait until the end of life to receive care in an integrated fashion.
Further, hospice uses techniques such as massage therapy to improve well-being at the end of life. Unfortunately, patients often question why they had to wait until the end of their lives to receive this kind of care. Our premise is that these types of interventions that improve quality of life need to become part of caring for all patients.
The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV has a director of wellness and integrative medicine as well as coursework in integrative medicine, with a primary goal of teaching our future physicians about whole person care. Compassion, the very act of recognizing the plight of others, requires this type of mindset.
The philosophy of integrated health care has been part of the school since its inception. Founding Dean Barbara Atkinson saw the importance of integrative health care and made that one of her planning goals. Today, this notion is coming to fruition with the school and the creation of an Academic Health Center. Here, the integrative approach is coming together as all of the health science students from UNLV — nursing, dental medicine, public health, integrative health and medical students — have the opportunity to work together.
As we build this interdisciplinary Academic Health Center, we are establishing a model to integrate the health care of each patient and our entire community. This means establishing interdisciplinary care where individual health, community health and population health are all interconnected.
The integrative health care model allows each practitioner to bring their specific knowledge, expertise and wisdom to the table — a table we are setting for each and every person we encounter. By working together as a team that includes the patient at the core, we create a health care system that reflects, supports and empowers the patients and communities we serve.
Living in Las Vegas and creating an Academic Health Center creates a unique opportunity. The Ritz Carlton has a motto, “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” The academic health center’s motto could be, “We are whole people serving whole people.”
As one of the world’s greatest hospitality cities, the core concepts of hospitality and consumer-centered care need to be incorporated into everything we do, and we are a place where people can come from all over to experience health and healing.
As we do this, every step needs to be in the direction to make health care available, affordable and patient-centered. We can no longer wait to take care of ourselves and each other in a separate and distinct fashion. We can honor the complexity of being human by exploring the totality of body, mind and spirit.
This used to be the way until the 17th century, when the French philosopher Rene Descartes, credited as one of the first to metaphorically separate the head from the rest of the body through his treatise about the duality of the mind and body, changed the course of how we think about our bodies, minds and spirits. It is time we put the head back on our bodies, honor the connection of body, mind and spirit, and provide integrative care for the individual and our communities.
Anne Weisman is the director of wellness and integrative medicine for the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV. Marc J. Kahn is the dean and vice president for health affairs for the school.
Editor’s note: Due to an editing error, Marc J. Kahn’s surname was misspelled in the original version of this column.