While medical doctor (MD) shortages cause plaintive headlines and long lines at drop-in clinics, fully qualified naturopathic doctors (ND) continue to build their practices and accept new patients.

“Most people don’t realize the amount of education we have,” says ND Kerri Fullerton, who shares the naturopathic health centre Rooted… (A grounded approach to natural health) on Patterson Road in Barrie with colleague Leanne Bender, ND, and two registered massage therapists.

“They just lump us in with all the other natural health-care practitioners and they’re not all professional.”

In an extremely fast-growing industry, the problem is a lack of regulations, she adds.

“There’s a really big distinction between a practitioner and a professional,” she explains. “For me, I have to have a minimum of seven years post-secondary. Plus I have to pass rigorous board examinations.”

Regulated in Ontario under the Drugless Practitioners Act since 1925, NDs study pre-med during their undergraduate years and then take basic medical and clinical sciences, naturopathic principles and therapeutics.

Prior to attempting their Naturopathic Physicians Licencing Examinations (NPLEX), ND candidates spend 1,500 hours of supervised clinical experience.

“Then I have to maintain my board of directors registration and have malpractice insurance,” Fullerton adds. “So, really, there’s an accountability to more than just my patients.”

She stresses expertise can be found in natural modalities among practitioners, but there is no consistency in their education.

NDs, however, are in fact “real” doctors and spend the first two years of their medical training in courses much like MDs.

“We do the traditional medical courses including physiology, biology, anatomy, differential diagnosis and pharmacology,” says Fullerton. “But instead of learning (pharmacology) inside out and backward, in terms of treatment, that’s where we differ.”

Although trained to treat acute problems like pink eye or the flu, for example, NDs also learn about prevention, long-term care and the management of the patient.

“Once diabetes is diagnosed (she cites as an example), they need guidance to help manage it on a long-term basis – not just medication management,” she explains.

“You may need medication or not, depending on how severe it is. You absolutely have to have a medical doctor, too. If we could just use both systems together, we would all thrive.”

She also sees a lot of high cholesterol in her practice.

“The Merck Manual of Diagnosis (a go-to text for the medical community) says before you prescribe medicine, you’re supposed to adjust their diet and lifestyle,” says Fullerton.

“If a doctor’s spending five minutes with you, they can’t guide you through that – they just don’t have the time.”

Comparatively, the number of patients a medical doctor sees in an hour “is a busy day for us,” she adds. “They just don’t get a good foundation of nutritional education at school. The last time I checked, nutrition was an elective in their program. With us, it’s a mandatory course in every year of our education.”

However, if medication is ultimately required, an MD needs to be brought in.

“If someone comes in and I suspect they have an ulcer, I can’t refer for imaging – I have to refer back to a MD, which is hard when they don’t have one or it takes three or four weeks to get an appointment,” she says about the frustrations of the current health-care system.

“We’re trying to take care of their health and there are stumbling blocks."

Not being acknowledged by OHIP doesn’t help, either.

“I can do blood work and a pap, but people have to pay out of pocket,” she explains. “A lot of my patients now just have me do it because it’s so hard to get in to see their doctors to have a physical.”

NDs use the diagnosis and treatment principals of Chinese medicine, which “encompasses the entire person,” she continues. “It is profound how much it explains what’s going on in someone’s body. The treatment and diagnosis are very patient specific.”

“I can have two women come in with menopause and they will get two entirely different Chinese medical diagnoses,” she says.

“Herbs that will heal one woman could aggravate the other, because some herbs have a cooling property and some have a heating property, so if you give a woman with a hot condition herbs that heat, you just going to stoke the fire and make it worse. Every woman is going to experience it differently.”

Fullerton understands the hesitancy of medical community to accept natural medicine.

“I do sympathize – I was cynical of my profession myself before starting – it was the philosophy that drew me,” she recalls. “There really are a lot of people doing really stupid things out there.”

She says it likely annoys NDs even more than MDs “because it’s smearing us.”

And quality research is slow in coming because it isn’t well-funded.

“There are certainly not the massive clinical trials the pharmaceuticals can put together,” she says. “Additionally, there’s an inborn flaw of natural medicine because it’s so patient based. It doesn’t fit into the scientific model. In a clinical trial, you’d take 100 menopausal women and study the results of the same drug therapy on them all.”

Consequently, NDs choose to prescribe herbs and other natural remedies based more on clinical experience and a close collaboration among colleagues discussing best practices than studies proving the results of particular brands.

“The supplement industry is not well-regulated,” she warns. “Some put a lot of crap into supplements, sometimes they don’t even put in what they say is in there. There are not enough watchdogs out there.”

She urges people to visit a ND to find out what their bodies actually need, in anything, and get introduced to tried-and-true products.

“Natural doesn’t mean safe,” she adds. “Most stuff is fine, it won’t do harm. But it might not do any good either. A lot of people are taking a lot of supplements that are totally unnecessary.”

Having been trained in basic chiropractic techniques and soft-tissue manipulation, she recognizes problems that are helped by referring to professionals in those fields. Sometimes she will perform acupuncture, a specialty of hers. Other NDs have their own specialties.

Consequently, it’s important for patients to search around for an ND who fits well with their needs and personality.

“You have to jive with your naturopath,” says Fullerton. “And why wouldn’t you?  You’re hiring us. It’s not like a medical doctor where you’re forced to take what you can get. You have to be comfortable.”

In order to introduce people to herself and her industry in a non-threatening manner, Fullerton provides a complimentary half-hour initial consultation.

“They can interview me and make sure I’m not a flake,” she laughs. Then the first hour-and-a-half appointment is booked and “I’ll ask more questions that anyone has ever asked you.”

It’s the beginning of a healthy relationship.

For more information, click the link provided.