PRACTITIONER PROFILE
Daniel Weber
What has kept you practising for 30 + years ? The unfolding of greater information and research . The excitement of finding new links uncovered by that research and ways of applying that information in clinical practice . So much more is available today as opposed to 30 or 40 years ago .
What have been the most important changes to natural medicine you have seen during your career ? I dislike the word ’ natural ’ as it postulates some medicine is not natural . It ’ s either all medicine is natural or none is natural . What is called natural is confusing as well as meaningless ; every ’ natural ’ medicine is somewhat processed , extracted or manufactured . Is vitamin C natural or is it manufactured in large vats in China ? Or is chemotherapy ‘ un-natural ’? Nearly 50 % of chemotherapy drugs are made from plants and / or minerals . Complementary or integrative is a better term than natural ..
What changes in natural medicine would you most like to see ? I want to see a full integration of pharmaceutical / linear deductive medicine and complementary / inductive medicine . No two or more ‘ kinds ’ of medicine , but us all working together and having a common language to diagnose and treat .
What advice do you have for today ’ s emerging practitioners ? Do an undergraduate degree in medical science , so we all have a common language to discuss patient issues . A standardised diagnostic procedure as well as a capacity to read and evaluate scientific research papers and clinical diagnosis . Then a postgraduate degree in ‘ Western ’ medicine or Naturopathy or Chinese medicine is our specialist training .
I have been in practice for 50 years and I am heartened to see the emergence of complementary medicine as a real and valuable scientific tool . We as practitioners need to constantly up-skill and constantly retrain ourselves so we may see ourselves as a community of healers , not people in various skills demeaning other professions / practitioners .
Danny Siegenthaler
What has kept you practising for 30 + years ? I have now been practicing for 38 years and hope to continue for many years to come . I have enjoyed helping patients and seeing them get better . The smile of patients getting off the table and reporting their pain has gone is very rewarding . A GP once said to me after seeing his daughter relieved of neck pain , “ I ’ m jealous of you , because your patient arrives with a frown on their face and leave smiling ; mine arrive with a frown and leave with a frown and a prescription , which may or may not help them . That sort of thing is what has kept me wanting to keep practising .
What have been the most important changes to natural medicine you have seen during your career ? Registration of TCM , for better or worse .
What changes in natural medicine would you most like to see ? I ’ m not sure what the future of natural medicine is in Australia . I personally don ’ t have much hope for it to become more recognised , as none of the political parties wish to see it being re-included in private health funds . In addition , Associations don ’ t have the money or resources to effectively lobby governments . The exception may be TCM …
Personally I would like to see more of an apprenticeship model rather than the current academic model for student education ; possibly a combination of both would produce new practitioners with more confidence in their ability . I have met many new graduates who told me they are not confident enough to begin to practise and are looking to find jobs in a different field , which I have found very disappointing .
What advice do you have for today ’ s emerging practitioners ? a ) get as much practical experience BEFORE graduation as they can b ) learn about marketing and advertising ( for small business ) or get sound professional advice c ) before setting up their own practice , work for an experienced practitioner for a few months - even if they don ’ t get paid - what they will learn is going to pay them many times over in the future . d ) take full advantage of student clinc e ) get basic accountancy knowledge f ) don ’ t become a ‘ jack of all trades ’, become a master of the discipline you ’ ve studied . For example , many physios and chiros also use dry needling , their training however is poor and their results reflect that , which does not help their reputation or patients .
Jeff Edgecombe
What has kept you practising for 30 + years ? A strong desire to help people improve their health and overall wellbeing .
What have been the most important changes to natural medicine you have seen during your career ? The move toward a solely evidence-based curriculum in colleges ; the increase in the number of natural medicine practitioners ; the decline in traditional medicine in terms of modalities once practised and now not generally part of the
JATMS | Autumn 2023 | 39