A gourmet dinner is to a chef as integrative medicine is to the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine, which strives to provide its patients with a variety of integrative medicine, said Dr. Ka-Kit Hui, founder and director of the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine.
The center was founded in 1993 with the intent of using Chinese medicine in a blended health model. It is founded on the pillars of low technology, patient interaction and low costs in order to solve problems in a financially viable and efficient manner, said Hui, who is also a Wallis Annenberg Professor in Integrative East-West Medicine.
“People are looking for alternative medicine (practices) because they want to avoid as much as possible medication, procedures, injections, surgery and long term (treatments),” said Dr. Malcolm Taw, an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine.
Alternative medicine is medicine that is not Western, while complementary medicine is used with Western medicine, Hui said.
“Integrative is to blend best ingredients of both to create a (better treatment),” Hui said.
When a patient comes into the clinic, they undergo an initial and general evaluation and a management plan is decided, said Dr. Lawrence Taw, assistant clinical professor under the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine. He added that the clinic’s doctors make sure all appropriate Western diagnoses have been addressed and completed.
The focus then shifts to the Chinese medical assessment, examining the patient on a bio-psychosocial model. Evaluations of regular activities such as exercise, eating, sleeping, working habits and stress management, are components of this model of examination, Lawrence Taw said.
“There are a large variety and number of types of eastern medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine is the primary modality we use … for theories and concepts, diagnosis, and therapeutic procedures,” Malcolm Taw said.
A combination of both eastern and western treatments is most frequently used with the intention to achieve a synergistic and therefore more efficient effect, Lawrence Taw said.
“I am concerned that so many young children (are overmedicated), and I think that there are better ways to help young people with stress and (problems),” Hui said.
The UCLA Center for East-West Medicine views education of self-care as key to patient progress, Lawrence Taw said.
“We are the most comprehensive center of the UCLA Collaborative Centers for Integrative Medicine,” Hui said. He added that the doctors and nurses are trained to cater to all types of patient problems. Some have backgrounds in areas such as sociology and anthropology in order to provide, assess and blend information useful to medicine.
The center conducts pilot studies that look at the way acupuncture affects stress mechanisms, treatments to reduce head and neck pain, comparative effectiveness studies, and whole system research, Hui said. He added that the center is further developing an information center within the biomedical library and a Web portal to explore integrative medicine with others.
A course on East-West integrative medicine is available to first- and fourth-year medical students, Hui said. It has also been available for the past two years during summer for both undergraduate and graduate students, he added. There are many volunteer and research opportunities for undergraduate students in a wide range of majors.
It is of primordial importance to educate the current generation of medical practitioners, as well as future doctors and nurses, about the potential integrative medicine has to offer, Hui said.