Vancouver naturopathic doctor Vanessa Lindsay has been treating a longtime patientB次元官网网址檚 high blood pressure through nutrition and exercise.

B次元官网网址淪heB次元官网网址檚 lost weight. SheB次元官网网址檚 stronger. SheB次元官网网址檚 eating well. SheB次元官网网址檚 hydrated. SheB次元官网网址檚 sleeping better,B次元官网网址� said Lindsay.

But the patient is still on two blood pressure medications B次元官网网址� and because naturopathic doctors in British Columbia are allowed to prescribe drugs, Lindsay works with her patient on those, too.

B次元官网网址淚 can support her in monitoring and safely weaning off one when itB次元官网网址檚 appropriate,B次元官网网址� said Lindsay, who is also the president of BC Naturopathic Doctors.

B次元官网网址淪o using the complementary care when itB次元官网网址檚 appropriate, but also integrating those conventional tools when necessary.B次元官网网址�

British Columbia, along with the Northwest Territories, has the most extensive scope of practice for naturopathic doctors in Canada, including the ability to prescribe drugs and be certified to administer vaccines.

The Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors wants to see the same scope of practice allowed for similarly trained practitioners across the country, said executive director Shawn OB次元官网网址橰eilly.

She touted a four-year training program that she said includes science and distinguishes B次元官网网址渘aturopathic doctorsB次元官网网址� from unregulated practitioners who call themselves naturopaths without any standardized training.

Amid a family doctor shortage in Canada, many naturopathic doctors position themselves as a solution, arguing that they have the training to be a patientB次元官网网址檚 primary care provider.

ThatB次元官网网址檚 raising alarm among medical doctors and health experts who say they are not equipped to be a patientB次元官网网址檚 principal source of medical care.

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e got to be really careful,B次元官网网址� said Dr. Michelle Cohen, assistant professor of medicine at QueenB次元官网网址檚 University and a physician on the Lakeview Family Health Team in Brighton, Ont.

B次元官网网址淲hen it comes to naturopathic doctors, my concern is that many of them B次元官网网址� and some of their organizations as well B次元官网网址� will present them as though they are just a different form of family doctor,B次元官网网址� said Cohen.

B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e not,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址�TheyB次元官网网址檙e learning some anatomy and theyB次元官网网址檙e learning some physiology, but thereB次元官网网址檚 a lot that they donB次元官网网址檛 do.B次元官网网址�

To become a naturopathic doctor in Canada, students must have a bachelorB次元官网网址檚 degree and then take four years of training at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. That training involves B次元官网网址渂iomedical and clinical sciences,B次元官网网址� including pharmacology and learning about immunization, said OB次元官网网址橰eilly.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 really the philosophy and approach that naturopathic doctors take with their patients that differentiates them from other health-care professionals,B次元官网网址� OB次元官网网址橰eilly said.

B次元官网网址淭heir approach is to look at the whole person. So not just their physical aspects, but mental, emotional, social, environmental (factors),B次元官网网址� she said.

B次元官网网址淭hey also really focus on educating their patients on such things as lifestyle and diet.B次元官网网址�

Naturopathic doctors are regulated in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the Northwest Territories, OB次元官网网址橰eilly said, and are in the process of becoming regulated in Nova Scotia.

OB次元官网网址橰eilly said that in some provinces, many people calling themselves B次元官网网址渘aturopathsB次元官网网址� are unqualified and unregulated. Those practitioners give the profession a bad name and are the most likely to be anti-vaccine, she said.

But Cohen disputed any notion that naturopathic doctors B次元官网网址� even those who go through the college B次元官网网址� can be considered a type of family doctor.

B次元官网网址淭hey have a completely different type of training and they follow a different path.B次元官网网址�

Cohen said she has looked B次元官网网址減retty thoroughlyB次元官网网址� into the training of naturopathic doctors and found neither the curriculum nor the clinical practice requirements equip them to diagnose and treat serious illnesses.

Although naturopathic doctors argue they do a four-year program like a medical doctor does, B次元官网网址渋tB次元官网网址檚 deceptive the way they present that,B次元官网网址� she said.

Medical doctors must do at least two more years of residency after their four years of medical school before they can practice, she said.

And while naturopathic doctors must have at least 1,200 hours of clinical training, family doctors do closer to 10,000 hours, Cohen said.

The type of clinical training also differs, she said, as those training to be family doctors see a wide variety of patients B次元官网网址� many of them very sick B次元官网网址� through hospital rotations.

Without that kind of experience, a practitioner can miss a B次元官网网址渞ed flagB次元官网网址� that could indicate serious illness in a patient with certain symptoms, leading to misdiagnosis, she said.

Still, Cohen sees a role for naturopathic doctors to work in co-operation with family doctors and nurse practitioners, as B次元官网网址減art of a team providing care thatB次元官网网址檚 along their line of expertise.B次元官网网址� That could include consulting on lifestyle and diet and providing evidence-based information about supplements and how they might interact with other medications.

Some may also be uniquely qualified to provide science-based counselling on vaccines to people who are hesitant and may not trust the medical system, Cohen said, noting that naturopathic doctors took part in COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Ontario.

Dr. Tahmeena Ali, president of BC Family Doctors, agreed that naturopathic doctors can play a specific role as part of a patientB次元官网网址檚 primary care team and said she welcomes their contributions.

B次元官网网址淭hey often have more education on the preventive and more holistic diet and lifestyle aspects to health promotion and prevention and healing. And I donB次元官网网址檛 think that there has to be an B次元官网网址榚ither or,B次元官网网址� but a B次元官网网址榖oth,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Ali said.

She emphasized that communication and co-ordination between the providers is essential for the patientB次元官网网址檚 well-being and to avoid ordering duplicate diagnostic tests or treatments.

But other health-care experts are much more skeptical.

B次元官网网址淣aturopaths presenting themselves as a solution to our current crisis is at the very least misleading. And from the perspective of a family physician, itB次元官网网址檚 quite horrifying,B次元官网网址� said Dr. Sarah Bates, acting president of the Alberta Medical AssociationB次元官网网址檚 family medicine section.

B次元官网网址淣ow, I do fundamentally believe that primary care is a team sport. One hundred per cent. We should be working collectively with nurses, with nurse practitioners and pharmacists and psychologists and complementing each otherB次元官网网址檚 practice, not competing with it. But there is no place in there for naturopathic physicians,B次元官网网址� Bates said.

B次元官网网址淎 lot of (it) is essentially pseudoscience rhetoric,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淭here is harm that can be done.B次元官网网址�

Bates still remembers a patient from about 15 years ago who had rectal bleeding, so she referred her for diagnostic tests, including a colonoscopy.

But her patient didnB次元官网网址檛 go for the procedure.

B次元官网网址淪he went to her naturopathic physician instead, and a year and a half later, she returned to me with further bleeding, weight loss. She looked terribly sick,B次元官网网址� Bates said.

The naturopathic practitioner had been treating the patient for yeast Candida, a fungal infection, she said.

B次元官网网址淪he died like six months later from colon cancer.B次元官网网址�

Bates realizes that it might sound like sheB次元官网网址檚 trying to protect her B次元官网网址渢urf,B次元官网网址� but said sheB次元官网网址檚 just trying to protect patients.

B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 enough work here to go around,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淏ut the solution is not to introduce a practitioner without the appropriate training to provide a certain level of care.B次元官网网址�

Blake Murdoch, a senior research associate with the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta, agreed.

B次元官网网址淢uch of naturopathy is based on the principle that modern medicine only treats symptoms rather than (the) underlying cause, which is patently false other than when there is no effective treatment known to science,B次元官网网址� Murdoch said in an email.

B次元官网网址淭his is where alternative medicine supposedly B次元官网网址榝ills the gapsB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� with things that donB次元官网网址檛 work or are untested and potentially unsafe.B次元官网网址�

READ ALSO:

READ ALSO: