What is the difference between a medical doctor and a naturopath?

AMA News Wire

What is the difference between a medical doctor and a naturopath?

February 26, 2024

Education is important, especially when it comes to healthcare. Patients know this too. More than 90% say a physician’s years of education and training are essential for optimal patient care.

However, there are non-physician health care providers known as naturopathic physicians, but their state licensing is highly inconsistent, and some physicians known as traditional naturopathic physicians have no formal training in the practice. received little or nothing.

According to the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges, naturopathic doctors are educated in basic science and complementary and alternative treatments that focus on “body, mind, and spirit.” According to the association’s website, naturopathic doctors also focus on “the body’s natural healing power.” While traditional naturopathy avoided drugs and surgery, modern naturopathy seeks to incorporate elements of conventional medicine.

Even the most highly educated naturopathic doctors have only received a fraction of the training that medical doctors receive. Lawmakers therefore need to be very careful when considering legislation that would expand the scope of practice for naturopathic doctors.

Combating scope creep is a key component of the AMA recovery plan for American physicians.

Patients have the right to receive care directed by their physicians – the most highly educated, trained and skilled medical professionals. The AMA vigorously defends medical practices against expanded scope of practice that threatens patient safety.

There are three types of medical professionals who provide naturopathic treatment:

• Naturopathic doctor. These non-physicians graduate from her four-year professional level program at an accredited naturopathic medical school and earn a Naturopathic Doctor (ND) degree or Naturopathic Doctor of Medicine (NMD) degree.
• Traditional naturopathic doctors are educated through a combination of mentorship programs with other professionals, alternative clinics, distance learning programs, and classroom education in natural health and other holistic studies.
• Other medical professionals, such as chiropractors, massage therapists, dentists, nurses, nutritionists, and physicians, practice under professional licenses but incorporate naturopathic techniques into their practice and are self-taught. You may be studying in or taking a course in naturopathic medicine.

At least 24 states and the District of Columbia regulate the practice of naturopathy. To become licensed, a naturopathic doctor in these states must obtain her ND or NMD from an accredited naturopathic program and pass the naturopathic physician licensure exam. Three states have banned the practice of naturopathy: Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee. In states that neither license nor prohibit the practice of naturopathy, traditional naturopaths and naturopathic physicians alike can practice without state regulation.

Postgraduate training is not common or required for graduates of naturopathic schools, except in Utah. Utah requires one year. Some naturopathic students choose to train and practice with an experienced naturopathic doctor before starting their own practice, while others choose to do a residency. According to medical literature, less than 10% of naturopathic doctors participate in approved training, which lasts only one year and lacks a high degree of standardization.

Unlike family medicine training standards, the Naturopathic Medical Education Council’s Naturopathic Medical Education Standards require naturopathic residents to work with patients with specific health conditions or in a variety of health care settings, including inpatient settings, throughout their lives. You are not required to treat the patient.

Compare this to a doctor who is either a Doctor of Medicine (MD) or a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) who completes four years of medical school, followed by a minimum of three years and a maximum of seven years of training. .

Additionally, naturopaths are required to have at least 1,200 hours of direct patient contact, while physicians receive 12,000 to 16,000 hours of clinical training, more than 10 times the minimum.

There are only five accredited ND or NMD programs in the United States, and all are private.

The ND program emphasizes naturopathic principles (such as the healing power of nature) and naturopathic therapies such as botanical medicine, homeopathy, and hydrotherapy. Coursework in naturopathic therapy is combined with and taught concurrently with science coursework. However, there are no specifications regarding the number of hours required in each area.

ND programs often aim to teach the same content as MD or DO programs in the same amount of time as medical school, in addition to naturopathic philosophy and treatments. A major problem is that naturopathic medical students may lack exposure to important clinical scenarios during their training. As mentioned above, accreditation standards do not require naturopathic medicine students to see patients of a particular age, in a particular healthcare setting, or with a particular condition as part of their clinical training.

In addition, naturopathic medical schools typically do not have significant hospital affiliations, so clinical experience for naturopathic medical students is typically gained through outpatient clinics. This means that there is no guarantee that naturopathic students completing clinical rotations will actually see sick or hospitalized patients and may not come into contact with infants, children, adolescents, or the elderly. Masu. It has been said that naturopathic doctors tend to work with “worried people”.

Check out the information below to learn more about why education is important to your medical scope of practice.

• Comparison of nurses and doctors.
• Physician assistants compared to physicians.
• Comparison of nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologists.
• Comparison of optometrists and ophthalmologists.
• A comparison of psychologists and psychiatrists.
• Comparison of pharmacists and doctors.
• Comparison of naturopaths and medical doctors.

For a great resource to set the record straight on scope of practice for policymakers, learn more at AMA. AMA is one of the only national organizations that has created hundreds of medical aid tools for use in combating scope creep.

Some licensed naturopathic doctors are seeking to expand their scope of practice through state chapters to include the authority to prescribe controlled substances. Others are seeking “family doctor” status, membership in Medicare or the Veterans Health Administration, and mandatory insurance coverage for naturopathic services.

Naturopathic doctors are trained as primary care providers and claim to have the education and training to diagnose, manage, and treat many conditions, including bloodstream infections, heart disease, and autoimmune diseases. doing. But their education and training is years and thousands of hours short of what doctors get.

For example, naturopathic doctors have four years of training, compared to eight to 10 years for hematologists, and nine years for medical oncologists, endocrinologists, and rheumatologists (all specialists in bloodstream infections). .

This number is similar for doctors who specialize in the treatment of heart disease. The cardiologist has over 10 years of medical education and training, of which 3 years are spent researching vascular diseases.

And so do doctors who specialize in autoimmune diseases. A family physician, she has seven years of comprehensive medical training. Neurologists have eight. She has nine rheumatologists and radiation oncologists.

The AMA urges policymakers to ensure that naturopathic doctors’ claims that they can treat a wide range of conditions are supported by facts, including the specific education and training necessary to ensure patient safety. I believe that this is my responsibility.

Visit AMA Advocacy in Action to learn what’s at stake in the fight against scope creep and other advocacy priorities in which the AMA is active.