On May 9, NUHS Naturopathic Professional Student Association (NPSA) invited former NUHS instructor Louise Edwards, ND, LAc, to highlight the importance of equity, empathy and integrative medicine within the naturopathic physician’s oath.
Dr. Edwards owned a full-time private practice in Durango, CO until 2005 when she chose to reduce her clinical practice and focus on teaching. She has been an adjunct faculty member at Bastyr University in Kenmore, Wash. since 2000, and she taught courses in the naturopathic medicine program at National University of Health Sciences (NUHS) for 17 years.
The oath serves as a declaration of naturopathic physicians’ commitment to serving all of humanity. This provides physicians with a foundation of core values and ethical standards. Throughout this discussion, Dr. Edwards specifically focuses on the ethics outlined in the oath and what implementing them into practice looks like to her.
Establishing conditions for health
Dr. Edwards describes establishing the conditions for health as the primary responsibility of a naturopathic doctor.
“We evolved to be fundamentally self-healing,” Dr. Edwards said. “To elicit a cure, we must assess and correct the underlying imbalances in the determinants of health. All other therapies we employ are supplemental to establishing the conditions for health, by optimizing the determinants of health.”
Building trust in patient care
In order to treat the whole person, Dr. Edwards emphasizes that physicians really need to get to know their patients, which requires time and trust.
“My goal is to empower the people who come to me,” Dr. Edwards said. “I want them to feel safe with me. At the start of every visit, I tell my patients that they are in charge, that they are paying me and I am there to serve them. I tell them that if I ask them a question that they don’t want to answer, they don’t have to. People are unaccustomed to this, so I often have to remind them that they are in charge of their healthcare and that I am there to support them and teach them how to optimize their health.”
Understanding and overcoming prejudice
Dr. Edwards stressed that doctors must educate themselves beyond science to truly understand and treat a diverse population of people. This means looking within and understanding the ways of overt and covert prejudices.
“We’ve dedicated ourselves to the service of humanity, no matter what. So, it is our responsibility to educate ourselves,” Dr. Edwards said. “Oftentimes we don’t even see our blind spots or triggers. We have to be willing to understand the ways in which we might be blind or prejudiced.”
Meeting people where they are
Dr. Edwards highlights the importance of meeting people without judgment and with compassion, even when their behavior is difficult to understand. This starts with never making assumptions about someone.
“One of the things that I have learned as I’ve matured, and especially through practice, is how immensely diverse human beings are,” Dr. Edwards said. “We need to explore ourselves and not make assumptions. People are not their worst behavior. They are unique, often damaged human beings. One of the extraordinary things about running a patient’s full history is that we learn their backstory, and then we start to have some heart for why they might act the way they do.”
The role of a healer
Dr. Edwards believes it’s one thing to be a doctor, but it is another thing to be a healer. The oath emphasizes that physicians are committed to healing all beings and the planet on which we live.
“As the naturopathic physician’s oath says, ‘Being a healer is embodied in the way we conduct our lives, bringing our heart to the experiences of life,’” Dr. Edwards said. “If it’s our goal to serve humanity, then we have this larger calling to understand the deeper wounds that drive people, as individuals or collectively, to act badly, and that’s what being a healer is about.”
Dr. Edwards left students with a principle she strongly adheres to:
“Fundamentally, there should be no distinction among any of our patients. There is no quality in a human being that would make them exempt from our full, compassionate, focused care.”
This speaking engagement was part of a broader event series hosted by NPSA in celebration of Naturopathic Medicine Week, held from May 4 to May 10. Established by Congress, Naturopathic Medicine Week is a nationwide effort to raise awareness about the power of naturopathic medicine and its role in helping individuals achieve lasting health and wellness.
