Center combines traditional, complementary techniques

David Rakel, the medical director of UW Health’s new Center for Integrative Medicine, spends a lot of time explaining the term “integrative medicine” to the public and to his patients.

He asks for one small favor: Just don’t call it “alternative.”

“Alternative isn’t an ideal term, because it connotes something other than science or evidence-based medicine,” explains Rakel, who’s board-certified in both family practice and holistic medicine. “With integrative medicine, we can take traditional medicine and the great strides we have made studying the body through a science-based approach and combine that success with services that may be more consistent with the healing arts.”

Those healing arts can include a variety of things — nutrition, botanicals, supplements or exercise. They also include one of several support services offered through the Center for Integrative Medicine, which has been receiving patients since late November: mind-body practices, massage therapy, acupuncture or t’ai chi.

The timing is opportune: Public interest in integrative medicine has been growing rapidly for much of the past decade. Today, many medical-care organizations feature “alternative-care” services. What’s different about the UW Health program is Rakel, who provides individualized intake assessments and comprehensive evaluations to patients before recommending treatment.

Patients begin their integrative-medicine experience by filling out a survey in which they list not just their medical conditions, but their social support and beliefs as well. Rakel then spends an hour listening to the patient organize his or her story; that allows him to make efficient recommendations regarding complementary therapies that are then communicated to the patient’s primary-care provider.

“Just listening can be powerful and therapeutic in itself — listening to how their headaches got more frequent gives me better insight into what they’re going through, but also helps them understand it, too,” he says. The approach works especially well for patients suffering from chronic illness or pain, as well as for those just looking to bring a better balance to their lives to enhance disease prevention.

Rakel, who grew up in Iowa, first studied integrative medicine on a fellowship at the University of Arizona. Today, in addition to his patient duties at the center, Rakel sees patients in the family medicine clinic in Verona and teaches students at UW Medical School.

He likens himself to a traffic cop, whose job it is to direct patients to the most efficient path to good health. “You can only do it by creating an understanding of who the patients are,” he says. “That’s what integrative medicine is all about — combining conventional and complementary services to best match the patient’s unique situation to enhance their ability to heal.”