Chris Kresser: Mallory says, “As a physician, I worry a little about implementing this shift and thinking with my patients as I go. Do you have any thoughts about either implementing it along the way or waiting until I complete the training to advertise myself more as a Functional Medicine practitioner? Hopefully, that makes sense.”
Yes, it makes perfect sense. We’ve had numerous primary care docs in the course. We’ve had ER docs in the course who have made this transition. I think you’re among good company. There are lots of different ways to do it. Some people do as you suggested, they just maintain their practice, whatever it is. If they’re an ER doc, they continue their ER work, and if they’re a PCP, they continue doing that, and they’re learning the material and they’re processing it. I don’t think you’ll be able to avoid thinking about your patients from a functional perspective even if you’re not explicitly practicing Functional Medicine when you go to work each day. I think it will be impossible to not think about your patients from a functional perspective because you’re going to be learning about all these lab tests, you’re going to be learning about functional diagnostics, and you’re going to be thinking about those as you go through your work with your patients. Whether you start to actually try to apply some of that in your practice really depends on your setup, how much control you have over your practice. If you’re working as an employee, for example, for Kaiser in that kind of setting, then you’re going to have less autonomy than you would if you have your own practice. That’s obviously one of the deciding factors. How much time you’re able to spend with patients, which is, of course, related to that is another major factor that determines how much Functional Medicine you’ll be able to integrate, that functional approach.
There’s no right or wrong answer. People have done it different ways. It is just what will work for you and I think it will actually become more clear as you go through the course.