Integrative Medicine  

Kelly K McCann, MD is an Integrative Physician. Integrative medicine emphasizes the combination of conventional with complementary and alternative medicine in the assessment of the whole person -- body, mind, and spirit -- including all aspects of a lifestyle.

Integrative medicine focuses on healing rather than disease. It respects the innate human capacity for healing and emphasizes the therapeutic relationship between the patient and practitioner, who are partners in the healing process. Integrative medicine makes use of all appropriate treatments practiced in an evidence-based manner to address the biological, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of health and illness.

Integrative Medicine may also be known as Holistic, Functional, Complementary, Alternative, Natural, Lifestyle, or Preventative. Dr. Kelly McCann provide Integrative care for Orange County, California including Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Aliso Viejo and surrounding areas.

Complimentary and Alternative Medicine

The National Institutes of Health defines complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as the “broad range of healing philosophies, approaches, and therapies that mainstream Western (conventional) medicine does not commonly use, accept, study, understand, or make available.”

Integrative medicine combines both conventional, complementary and alternative approaches to address the biological, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of health and illness. It emphasizes respect for the human capacity for healing, the importance of the relationship between the practitioner and the patient, a collaborative approach to patient care among practitioners, and the practice of conventional, complementary and alternative health care that is evidence-based.

Many kinds of treatment fall into this category, including Traditional Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture, Homeopathy, Herbalism, Manual therapies such as Osteopathy or Massage, as examples. 

PBS American Health Journal
Dr McCann discusses Integrative Medicine

Users of Integrative Medicine

Most people who use CAM combine it with conventional medicine, because they perceive the combination to be superior to either alone.  CAM users tend to have higher level of education, poorer health status (chronic pain, anxiety, etc.) and a “holistic” interest in health, personal growth and spirituality.

In 1998, a national phone survey of 1500 US adults estimated that the total number of visits to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners exceeded the total number of visits to primary care physicians in 1990. It was estimated that Americans spent $27 billion out-of-pocket for CAM services in 1997. 

Clinical Research for Alternative Medicine

Funding for biomedical research in the field of integrative medicine has increased dramatically over the past several years. In 1992, Congress established the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) as part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with an annual budget of $2 million. In 1998, it was elevated to a full NIH center and renamed the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). NCCAM’s budget for research in this field for fiscal year 2005 is $121 million. NCCAM’s mission is to support research and training in CAM and to disseminate evidence-based information to both the public and professional worlds. Although some CAM modalities are not easily evaluated using randomized control trial methodology, the 2005 Institute of Medicine report recommends that conventional and CAM treatments both be held to similar standards of safety and efficacy.