Your Role as a Healthcare Provider harbal medicine

 

I had shown up for my first day on my surgery rotation. 

It was my first time in the operating room and I was pretty nervous. 

I scrubbed in and I was excited for 

the case to start because I'd never seen an operation before. 

Then the attending surgeon walked in, 

and he told everyone that unfortunately, 

the surgery was going to have to be canceled. 

There'd been some complications surrounding the patient and the operation was too risky. 

Eventually, he came over to me and he said, 

"Are you our new medical student?" 

I said I was and he said, 

"If you don't remember anything else from this surgical rotation, 

I want you to remember this: A good surgeon knows when to operate. 

A great surgeon knows when not to operate." Then he walked away. 

It has stuck with me throughout 

my entire medical profession and through my use of botanicals with patients. 

Because truly, there will be some instances when botanicals are not indicated. 

They would be unsafe or ineffective and it is just as important to 

know when it's appropriate to use botanicals as when it's not appropriate. 

Those are the things that we'll be discussing in this lesson. 

So, remember, your most important role as a healthcare provider is to keep patients safe. 

Know when and when not to recommend botanicals to patients. 

So, the key to keeping patients safe is knowing when and when not to use botanicals. 

You may be wondering, "Well, 

how do I make that decision?" 

Always make sure to stay within your scope of practice and then follow 

these three steps: Assess, educate, and advise. 

Step one is to assess. 

It's very important to decide if your patient 

is even interested in botanicals in the first place. 

Because if they're not interested, 

there's really no point in spending a lot of time and 

energy discussing botanical options with them. 

Now, I have some patients that absolutely take the initiative. 

They're very direct and ask me, 

"What kind of herbal medicines or natural things can I try?" 

That's obviously an easy situation. 

But in other instances, 

a lot of patients may not be even aware that a botanical option exists. 

Now, if the patient does show interest, 

the next decision to make is if they are a good candidate for botanicals. 

Now, we will be discussing at length, 

in future lessons, what makes a patient a good candidate. 

But in general, there are 

certain medical conditions or certain other medications the patient 

may be on that may interact with botanicals that 

essentially make this patient not a good candidate. 

So, you'll have to do a thorough past medical history, 

medication list and then also assess if they are a special patient population, 

like a patient who has cancer or is 

immunosuppressed in some way or perhaps is a pregnant female. 

All of these things may render the patient not the best candidate for botanicals. 

So, this is also very important to do during the assess part. 

Don't worry, we will be discussing what makes 

a good candidate for botanical at length in future lectures. 

You can often assess whether a patient might be interested in 

botanicals through listening for clues in what they're telling you. 

Your patient might be interested in botanicals if you're hearing things such as, 

"Is there anything that has fewer side effects? 

What can I do to prevent this from happening again? 

Are there any cheaper options I could try? 

Is there a more natural approach or anything else I could try to help with this?" 

These are all potentially clues that you can listen 

for when discussing things with patients. 

The final part of your assessment should be to consider whether there is 

scientific evidence to support the use of a botanical for a patient's symptoms. 

Then identify the safety profile and contraindications of the botanical, 

both in general and in respect for how it may interact with 

any allergies or medications associated with the patient. 

Don't worry if you don't feel like you can do that right at this point. 

Once you become a lot more familiar and learn a lot more about botanicals, 

you'll become much more well-versed in what scientific literature there is to support it, 

their safety profile, et cetera. 

But this is also a really, 

really important thing to consider anytime you're assessing a patient to 

see if they're going to be interested and a good candidate for botanicals. 

So, if the patient seems interested and you've already assessed if they are going to 

be a good candidate for botanicals and ruled out any major safety concerns, 

go ahead and proceed with seeing if the patient wants to learn more. 

For patients who seem interested but maybe not familiar with botanicals, 

I usually say something along the lines of, 

"There are more natural options that you could try for your problem. 

Would you be interested to hear more about these?" 

If they do take me up on this offer, great. 

I'll go ahead and proceed with discussing it with them. 

Many patients do. 

However, just as many do not want to hear about botanical options and that's just fine. 

I would recommend to never try and force 

a botanical treatment on a patient who's clearly not interested. 

That's not our role as healthcare providers. 

For a patient who botanicals just aren't for them, that's just fine. 

I'd move on and discuss other options. 

Step two is to educate. 

After confirming the patient is interested and potentially a good candidate, 

the next step is to discuss the various botanical options that exist, 

including the risks and the benefits. 

When at all possible, 

use botanicals that have scientific evidence to support their use. 

I recommend comparing and contrasting the botanicals with pharmaceuticals to make 

sure that the patient is fully informed as to what the full spectrum of options are. 

This will help you guide the patient as to what is the best treatment option for them. 

Be prepared that some patients may choose the pharmaceutical option, 

which is perfectly fine. 

Perhaps, the pharmaceutical option may be 

the most effective option for the patient anyway. 

Our job as healthcare providers is to not push botanicals on patients, 

but help them make informed decisions about all the available options to them, 

both pharmaceutical and botanical. 

Finally, step three is to advise. 

If a patient does decide to try a botanical for a particular medical condition, 

it's your job to help them select a quality product. 

We'll be discussing this in detail in future weeks, 

but it can be really, 

really overwhelming for a patient to select their own botanical product. 

Guiding them to high-quality products will be 

instrumental in helping your patient find a safe and effective therapy. 

As with any treatment, 

it's important to go over any potential side effects 

or safety concerns regarding the botanical. 

Should you always recommend a botanical alternative to patients? 

Following the Assess, Educate, 

Advise model can help you determine 

when and when not to recommend botanicals to patients. 

Remember that your recommendations and 

actions should always be guided by your scope of practice. 

Never recommend anything that you're not familiar with or not comfortable prescribing, 

and never hesitate to seek consultation with other healthcare providers if need be. 

Finally, our key points. 

Remember, your most important role as a healthcare provider is to keep patients safe. 

Using the Assess, Educate, 

Advise model will help you determine when and when not to recommend botanicals. 

Always discuss pharmaceutical options when suggesting botanicals to 

patients and identify the benefits and risks of both options. 

This will help your patient make the most informed decision. 

Certainly, last but not least, 

make sure you practice within your scope of practice when recommending botanicals. 

Remember, it's just as important to know 

when to use botanicals as when not to use botanicals. 

The next activity in this lesson is a case study where you will try the Assess, Educate, 

Advise model with Enrique, 

who is a 58-year-old male presenting with reflux symptoms.