In short

At work we’re so busy we can only focus on the present, however much of that involves looking into the past; in the sense that we investigate what happened and why is the patient reporting symptoms. Over the past few decades, we’ve spent decreasing amounts of time in community social environments, promoting health creation & very little on prevention. It’s time we start forecasting a future where we look to compound our interests.

Word Creation

Interpractive.blog… It’s about time I explain what I mean by Interpractive. After a long search for a single word that encompasses the three elements of being intentionally expressed; I gave up not finding one I invented the word Interpractive. For me, I believe we are mind, body & soul, more specifically we’re these elements without any order of rank. I believe these parts of us, play inter-connected, like triplets with an intricate close bond. The -practive part of the word describes the focus I want to embody when I think of the word; to be practically-active, not just busy.

Interpractive means to be a mutually thriving energy in motion; practicing consciously via soul, body & mind. Harmoniously interfacing authentic & artificial intelligence & being simultaneously aware of each element. Since defining this word ten years ago, I found myself being much more intentional. Utilising my interpractive self is to calibrate & leverage the power of myself, holistically.

It’s not just words I enjoy dreaming up, from working in a residential care home & then hospitals, over the years I couldn’t help but dream of what it would be like if we developed our healthcare systems so they created health. I appreciate that diagnosing, treating & empathising with patients served us seventy years ago. But times have changed a bit & a lot! We’re increasingly remembering all symptoms are both a horrible hazard & a wonderful warning. Whether choosing to focus on comfort or cure, the pathway to both is to decide & focus on a degree of health creation.

Paths less travelled

Now we have an opportunity to recognise that a diagnosis in a living being is at best helpful & at worst detrimental because we are ever-changing. We can support navigating the utilisation of global treatment options; if that resonates with the patient. We can have compassion for the patient, and reassure them that whatever they are experiencing may feel out of control but they still have control over focusing on either salutogenisis or pathogenesis.

A few years ago, I came across a course to study Integrative medicine in healthcare, as I read more, I thought wow these are my kind of people! My tribe! They were describing my dreams of a system where we valued the spiritual as well as the body & mind. Where we didn’t just talk of treating holistically, we were practical in our planning & actively striving to serve from an energetically optimum place valuing ourselves as much as the patients.

Integrative philosophy is at least a couple of thousand years old. Then 27 years ago some physicians in the United States (US) began to study within the first Integrative medicine fellowship. 7 years ago a means to study in a similar scope become available in the United Kingdom. In the UK we more often than not, use the free option, which guides us down constricted options. In the US, without a free option, patients seek out who they work with, affected by their price range & values. To stay in business US physicians need to develop their knowledge of various medical systems to support demand. In the UK there is a growing need to do this also, not just for patient care but the sanity of healthcare workers themselves.

The future is what we make it

In the UK Integrative medical practice is growing out of a necessity to better serve our communities. Naturally, people are asking for different options, cheaper, more natural, with fewer side effects. We’re in a time where people also really need to feel heard, because in some sense, when we reduce someone’s experience down to a one-word diagnosis we devalue their experience. No one is their medical description of a diagnosis alone, they are complex individuals.

After years of saying patient-centred care but using copy & paste action plans; it’s time to evolve. Integrative healthcare looks to utilise global health systems (holistic, lifestyle & mainstream practices) & collaborate with what resonates with individual patients. Diversifying research & technological advances are supporting ever more personalised plans. With growing focuses on subcategories; of which there are many; Longevity, Genomics, Tele, Regenerative, Precision medicine, to name just a few.

I’ve spent a few years immersed in thoughts regarding Integrative practice. I’ve completed the masters level diploma & I can reflect on many years, with patients as they confronted some of their worst nightmares. As the ideas infuse, I’m keen to start sharing & practice articulating ideas that for me right now, stand out as ways we could develop & benefit. These blogs aim to be short, forward-focused & proactive.

3 proactive steps forward

1. In the UK new systems are developing, and Integrative clinics are available. Sadly, the national system continues to lag in valuing its workers enough to support learning about these changes. While I appreciate everyone is very busy with work & getting through the day. We have to actively get involved in reading, discussing & learning about them. I’ve navigated a lot of this via journaling; I call it BIO accounting. BIO standing for Bash It Out! I pick something that has irritated me about my work day & I type as fast as I can, going on a rant. Then I make a cuppa (how very British of me) & I go back to the writing asking myself what’s the truth behind the irritation? What would I rather happen? How could I invest in creating a better outcome next time? This has helped me find greater fulfilment in my work where I know only, I am responsible & am in control.

2. We’ve said I don’t know for too long. We keep saying we’re looking for cures but we know a lot already & we don’t utilise that! Say, for example, those experiencing symptoms of induced diabetes, that have unintentionally but never the less induced symptoms due to lifestyle. While being polite is nice, we have to ask ourselves are we being fully honest? Is it possible our politeness is robbing patients of understanding the full truth? Being blunt in delivery has the potential to anger an individual, however, to break a pattern of belief, and wake up from disillusion it’s essential to get to a place of entertaining new perspectives. In my nursing capacity, I’ve been present when many patients have been offered care but they tell me it falls short of what they long for. With compassion, I’ve often asked what are you going to do for yourself? & patients have often thanked me for my kind but honest prompting.

3. To convey honesty to patients while limiting offence we need to refine being authentic. I’ve found that consistently exploring my own health has led me to increasing contentment, compassion & confidence. I call this exercise Patient 0 (toxic but necessarily honest), I document about myself in a patient record format. Over the years, I began doing this for all my studies because what makes us think we can support others when we don’t strive for optimal control of ourselves? This discord of healthcare workers undervaluing themselves is reflected in the extortionately large amount of unpaid overtime, lack of support & underpay. I’m an advocate for striving towards an understanding that perfection isn’t a possible destination. However, I know I’m not alone in having a list of things I procrastinate on, my own health is one of them. Consulting myself has enhanced my health as well as expanded my fields of research therefore, I can authentically say I’ve faced my own negative thinking & personally explored an array of treatment avenues.

FREE 3-minute practical

• Write a mock patient record using your data. How many years has it been since you last consulted yourself? Well, maybe it’s time you condense those appointments and give yourself 90 minutes to fully review that patient with the compassion they deserve. (I am aware 90mins isn’t 3mins. What’s more important semantics or prioritising personal growth?
• What is something you need & want in your life, but have been talking yourself out of? If you’re completely honest, although you may have tried to obtain it, you kind of know you could be doing something more. What are the 3 main things you need to do to gain that result & which one will you do today towards making it your reality?
• What new conversations are being discussed about this topic, or related to it?

In association with Interpractive nurture consultant Ltd

[The Y in this title refers to a necessity to know why we want the future we dream of.]