Role of Naturopathic Doctors as Primary Care Physicians - Essay Example

'Role of Naturopathic Doctors as Primary Care Physicians' is a delightful example of a paper on complementary and alternative therapies. 
Scientific advances are subject to the influence of diverse and dynamic factors. Over the years, medical research and development have progressively transformed the healthcare environment. In particular, recent years have seen an increasing trend in naturopathic medicine practices. Naturopathic physicians or NDs are now playing an increasingly active role in the health sector. NDs are actually operating alongside other primary care physicians in contemporary society.

 Social, economic, political, and technological changes have promoted shifts in health care service delivery. Years of social and economic change informed a critical shift from the traditional healing practices to scientific medicine of contemporary times. In the process, holistic healing activities became more and more sidelined. However, these social transformations are now the subject of health crises from time to time. Unmanageable and uncontrolled crisis have consequently made health care delivery an extremely expensive public issue. As a result, experts now advocate for the blending of natural medicine with current scientific advances.

A closer look at the past ten years shows that naturopathic medicine is increasingly common. NDs are many in number, and so are the patients or clients seeking naturopathic services. Policies for the growth and development of society have further integrated natural medicine as a key strategy towards enhanced social welfare. According to Fleming and Gutknecht (2010), naturopathic medicine encompasses diet and nutrition, behavioral change, botanical medicine, and pharmaceuticals as key variables of providing holistic healthcare. Most importantly, the role played by NDs is now considered a primary care practice.

The role of NDs in the healthcare environment is undoubtedly diverse and dynamic. To start with, NDs are bringing back the forgotten, yet effective, healthcare practices. Traditional and holistic approaches to the prevention and cure of both acute and chronic illnesses are known to be functional and effective, long before scientific medicine became the order of the day. In this respect, there is a need to promote the role of NDs as both doctors and teachers. NDs do not only enhance diet and nutrition practices but also foster behavior change for improved health and general social welfare.

Nature cure comes in handy as far as reducing, managing, and controlling healthcare costs are concerned. The current healthcare environment both within and outside the United States faces many different challenges, among them cost-based crises. In light of the healthcare crisis, NDs play an active role in reducing and subsequently addressing the healthcare-related crisis in contemporary society. They do this by reducing dependence on scientific medicine, an area that requires huge capital investments and massive maintenance costs. In so doing, NDs make healthcare more affordable and subsequently improve care accessibility.

In conclusion, the prevention and use of natural therapeutics is the essence of naturopathy (Sarris & Wardle, 2010). This type of medicine has a direct impact on the safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of healthcare provision. NDs offer natural healing power to the healthcare fraternity, minimize diagnostic and treatment-related complications, focus on the root cause of the problem while treating patients holistically, and ultimately tailor human behavior towards the prevention of illnesses. In other words, NDs constitute the next revolutionary force in the contemporary healthcare setting.