What is Integrative Medicine? Integrative Medicine and Health

Currently, there is a Consortium of over 60 academic health centers for Integrative Medicine and Health established in association with academic hospitals in North America – the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health and a growing number of centres in Europe and Australasia.
The term integrative is used to indicate a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach that requires the application of the best options from different healing systems —that is, experts from a variety of biomedical and CAM fields focus the diagnostic and therapeutic strengths of a combination of systems into a comprehensive and individualized treatment strategy that encourages patient participation.
Integrative Medicine and Health has the following characteristics:
1) Patient-centred care and focuses on healing the whole person—mind, body, and spirit in the context of community.
2)  Educates and empowers people to be active participants in their own care, and to take responsibility for their own health and wellness,

3)  Integrates the best of biomedicine with a broader understanding of the nature of illness, healing, and wellness, 

4)  Makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches and evidence-based global medical modalities to achieve optimal health and healing, 

5)  Encourages partnerships between the provider and patient, supports the individualization of care, and 

6)  Creates a culture of wellness.
In the ideal situation, the patient and the integrative practitioner are partners in the effort to develop and implement a comprehensive treatment plan for issues that extend far beyond the immediate chief complaint and/or conventional diagnostic category. Truly integrative medicine draws from conventional and alternative techniques to facilitate healing and to empower the patient because healing is believed to originate within the patient rather than from the physician.
Integrative medicine implies that a competent practitioner will have an understanding of several different medical models including biomedicine and one or more CAM modalities. The basic medical principle, originally ascribed to Hippocrates, ‘Primum non nocere’ (or: Primum nil nocere) meaning ‘First, do no harm’ should automatically ensure that the practitioner gives first preference to the safest and least toxic treatment options. In integrative medicine holistic wellness care would be first-line medicine, with the high-tech specialists serving as the line of last resort, especially in case of life-threatening disease or the presence of irreversible tissue damage.
Personal responsibility and patient empowerment
Staying healthy and preventing disease requires the development of personal responsibility and involvement. The concept of self-care requires a conscious focus on and understanding of one’s physical, mental and emotional state and the ability to take corrective action when necessary. Helping patients to develop sufficient levels of self-awareness and the know-how required to change unhealthy patterns of behaviour to improve their health is remarkably empowering for the patient. In the first instance, this will enable a person to self-correct a relatively minor health problem. If the condition is more serious it may be necessary to consult a healthcare professional who can work with the patient to take the steps required to recovery. In this way, the patient is not a passive participant; the patient and healthcare professional cooperate as partners.
Holistic approach
Integrative Medicine is based on a holistic, or ‘whole person’ approach, i.e. how the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual elements of an individual are interconnected to maintain or regain wellness and health. Holistic approaches focus on the whole individual person rather than just on the illness or a diseased part of the body. They fully involve the patient in the diagnosis and management of his/her illness. Many aspects of a patient’s life may influence a health problem and understanding the ‘whole individual environment’ helps to develop a successful treatment plan. The aim of holistic therapy is to restore harmony of body, mind and spirit.
Therapeutic relationship
A positive functioning partnership between the patient and the healthcare professional engages the patient’s innate healing capacity and provides motivation to make healthy lifestyle changes. Such a positive therapeutic relationship should not be dismissed as a ‘placebo effect’ or a ‘good bedside manner’. In their encounter with CAM providers, citizens particularly value the following:
Empathetic communication in consultations with more time available than in biomedical encounters.
Involvement in their own care through participation in decision-making about their treatment options and the provision of self-help strategies.
Whole person approach and person-centred healthcare.
Explanatory frameworks within which to explore health and illness, which are frequently congruent with citizens’ own ideas about health and illness.



List of Hospitals using Homeopathy in Europe

German Hospitals Using Homeopathy
Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin am Caritas-Krankenhaus Bad Mergentheim


Dr. von Haunersches Kinderspital der Universität München


Kinderkrankenhaus St. Marien
Immanuel Krankenhaus Berlin
Filderklinik - Anthroposophic medicine: acute and holistic medicine
Havelhöhe Community Hospital - Clinic for anthroposophic medicine
Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Herdecke - Anthroposophic medicine
Klinik Öschelbronn
Friedrich-Husemann-Klinik - Clinic for psychiatry and psychotherapy
Krankenhaus Lahnhöhe
Geriatrische Reha-Klinik Bethel Welzheim
Emil-Schlegel-Klinik
Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin am Caritas-Krankenhaus Bad
Mergentheim
Alexander von Humboldt Klinik
Waldhausklinik Deuringen
CHAMP – Charité Ambulanz
Habichtswaldklinik
Fachklinik Hofheim
Hahnemann Klinik Baltrum
Hof Bellevue
Klinik im LEBEN
Malteser Klinik von Weckbecker in Bad Brückenau
Homöopathie an der Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie Hofheim
Krankenhaus Lahnhöhe
Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg – Frauenklinik Ambulanz für Naturheilkunde
Belegabteilung für Homöotherapie am Kreiskrankenhaus Heidenheim
Hahnemann Tagesklinik in Tübingen
Dr. von Haunersche Kinderspital der LudwigMaximilians-Universität
Austrian Hospitals Using Homeopathy:
General Hospital of Vienna (= Medical University of Vienna), Dept. Medicine I, Division of Oncology
Hospital of the Brothers of Mercy, Salzburg (Dr. Sepp Fegerl, Dr. Barbara Reuter)
Outpatient unit "Children Oncology, Hospital Klagenfurt" (Dr. Erfried Pichler)
Hospital Hietzing, Vienna (Dr. Michaela Zorzi)
Ambulanzen in Wien
Ambulanzen in Kärnten
Ambulanzen in Salzburg
Ambulanzen in Tirol
Ambulanzen in Vorarlberg

Swiss Hospitals Using Homeopathy
Institute for Complementary Medicine - University of Bern (IKOM; Dr. Martin Frei, Dr. Katharina Gaertner)
Clinica Santa Croce, Orselina

Swiss Paraplegic Centre, Notwil
Klinik Arlesheim
Ita Wegman Geburtshaus
Paracelsus-Spital Richterswil
Regionalspital Emmental AG - Abteilung Komplementärmedizin
Ospidal Engiadina Bassa - Abteilung Komplementärmedizin
Medizinisches Zentrum Bircher-Benner, Dorfstrasse 12, 8784 Braunwald, Switzerland

Zentrum für integrative Pädiatrie, HFR Billens, Rue de l'Hôpital 1, 1681 Billens, Switzerland,

Kantonsspital St.Gallen, Zentrum für Integrative Medizin, Haus 33, Greithstrasse 20, CH-9007 St.
Gallen, Switzerland, https://www.kssg.ch/integrative-medizin
Kantonsspital St.Gallen, Zentrum für Integrative Medizin, Haus 33, Greithstrasse 20, CH-9007 St.
Gallen, Switzerland, https://www.kssg.ch/integrative-medizin
Swiss Mountain Clinic AG, Strada Cantonale 158, CH-6540 Castaneda

Paracelsus Klinik Lustmühle AG, Battenhusstrasse 12, Postfach 162, 9053 Teufen AR,

Seeklinik Brunnen, Gersauerstrasse 8, 6440 Brunnen, https://www.seeklinik-brunnen.ch/
Klinik Schützen Rheinfelden, Bahnhofstrasse 19, 4310 Rheinfelden
French Hospitals Using Homeopathy
Centre Hospitalier Saint Joseph Saint Luc, Lyon :
Centre Hospitalier Lyon-Sud, Lyon

Hospital Croix-Rousse, Lyon : https://www.doc.fr/lyon/hopital-de-la-croix-rousse/dr-lopez-

Centre Hospitalier de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris : https://www.aphp.fr/offre-de-soin/consultation-

· Centre Hospitalier Tenon, Paris : https://www.aphp.fr/contenu/ap-hp-inauguration-de-la-

· Centre Hospitalier Corentin-Celton, Paris

· Hospital Saint Jacques, Paris
· Groupe Hospitalier Saint Vincent, Strasbourg
Italian Hospitals Using Homeopathy
Centro de Medicina Integrata di Pitigliano, Grosseto
Spanish Hospitals Using Homeopathy
· Hospital del Nen Deu, Barcelona
· Instituto Homeopático y Hospital de San José, Madrid


UK Hospitals Using Homeopathy
· National Health Service Centre for Integrative Care, Glasgow
· Portland Centre for Integrative Care, Bristol
http://portlandcentrehealthcare.co.uk/service/medical-homeopathy-bristol/
· Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, London