John Yang, MD and Dean at PCU College of Holistic Medicine, treats a patient with acupuncture. Photo courtesy of John Yang

Since being officially designated as a health profession by the BC government in 2000, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has slowly made its way into mainstream health care. John Yang, MD and Dean at PCU College of Holistic Medicine, says there are almost 1800 licensed TCM practitioners in BC.

Weiling Mah, a general practitioner MD who recently received her license to practice acupuncture, suggests there is a trend in patients looking for complementary or alternative forms of treatment like Chinese medicine or reiki.

Yang explains that patients may be wary of the side effects of Western medicine and instead opt for naturally based treatments.

“You take one pill, at the end you take ten pills,” he says. “More young people now don’t like that.”

Lynda Balneaves, a registered nurse and researcher in complementary medical practices. Photo courtesy of Lynda Balneaves

Lynda Balneaves, a registered nurse and researcher in complementary medical practices, says almost two-thirds of Canadians use some type of complementary medicine. Balneaves defines complementary medicine as optional therapy that falls outside of what’s considered mainstream medicine and used alongside conventional care. For example, a patient receiving chemotherapy and then going to an acupuncturist to help deal with the pain.

Western vs. Chinese Medicine
Yang says Western medical tradition is based on science and empirical evidence, while Chinese medicine is founded on philosophy.

He explains that Chinese philosophy is based on the two opposing energies running the universe – yin (negative) and yang (positive) – and it is these same energies that run the human body. Yang goes on to say that different conditions of the body occur when there’s an imbalance – when there’s too much or too little of the negative or positive energy.

“[Chinese medicine] has a way to adjust and to balance the body,” he says.

Mah claims Chinese medicine offers better results for certain ailments like chronic pain.

Balneaves recognizes the strength of complementary medicine in disease prevention, health promotion and overall wellness.

“In cancer, we very much look at supportive care, things like acupuncture, mindful meditation, for restoring quality of life,” she says.

On the Future of Integrative Medicine
Right now, Balneaves says there is some discussion of the possibility of training nurses in acupuncture at the College of Registered Nurses in the future.

“I am pretty positive that we will see better integration,” she says.

Mah also acknowledges a possible change in the future with more integration, as long as any new treatments introduced into the health care system are supported by strong evidence.

Likewise, Yang believes Eastern medicine will be further integrated into conventional health care, but he’s not exactly sure how long it will be before this happens. He explains that conventional Western medicine is too focused on curing illnesses.

“At this moment, actually it’s not health care – it’s disease care,” he says. “It’s not a complete concept of health care.”

He says that money is designated to curing diseases, but another way of approaching health care is to keep the public healthy and not let people get sick as often. Yang recommends using Chinese medicine as preventive care and then using Western medicine for treating illnesses.

A “combination is the best benefit to [the] public,” says Yang.

In the long term, he suggests that having integrative care can actually help reduce health care costs because the population will be healthier and people won’t need to visit the doctor as often.

But according to Balneaves, the difficulty of having different health care systems operating parallel to each other creates a communication breakdown. If a patient goes to an integrative care clinic, Balneaves says the patient’s record isn’t always shared with the family doctor.

“By integrating, [we need] to make sure that patients are getting the best of both worlds, that the care they receive is comprehensive and safe,” she says.