News & Insights

Functional Medicine leader Patrick Hanaway, MD, is interviewed by Jeffrey Bland, PhD, in 2017 after receipt of the Linus Pauling Award.

Sleep can be an emotional topic for many patients. Balancing a life full of work and family dynamics with healthy eating, exercise, and self-care is challenging enough for many, without the added effort of good sleep hygiene. As a Functional Medicine clinician, how do you talk to your patients about sleep and give them tools to improve this important lifestyle factor?

Researcher and clinician David Rakel, MD, shares his perspective on the power of empathy in the doctor-patient relationship.

Certain chronic diseases are known to co-occur, often because of shared underlying risk factors like inflammation. Traditionally, researchers have focused on a single disease or disease pairs, but recent research suggests that departing from this reductionist approach toward a more integrative assessment of multimorbidities can be beneficial.

A food first approach to treatment encapsulates the idea that changing eating habits can be an effective first step for many patients, and the improvements that they experience can serve as empowering feedback, motivating them to make other sustainable lifestyle changes.

Dr. Kristine Burke shifted from a practice model based on health insurance to a membership model. This type of practice offers an alternative for clinicians wanting to spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients.

Over 80% of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) report fatigue, and most prescription medications have been reported to have low efficacy in changing that number.

The GOTOIT framework, one of the core tools in Functional Medicine, is designed to center the patient during every encounter and to provide a structure for long-term follow up. This tool and how to use it are covered in IFM’s foundational course, Applying Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice (AFMCP).

Tom Sult, MD, IFMCP, shares how helping patients with stress management can alter brain and body.

The CDC estimates that 12.5% of American adults have chronic sinusitis, based on the 2017 National Health Survey data.² For acute sinusitis, antibiotics are a frontline treatment, while for chronic sinusitis, further interventions are often recommended, including surgery. Tom Sult, MD, IFMCP, shares his approach to chronic sinusitis and how Functional Medicine may help improve outcomes.

Video Podcast on Integrated Pain Management at Walter Reed with Dan Lukaczer and Mylène Tran Huhn, a pain treatment specialist.

One strategy to improve the patient-provider relationship is by utilizing health coaching. The role of health coaches is to listen to and guide patients through a change process. Coaches set expectations, provide feedback, and help clients identify challenges along the way.