Bringing It All Together

There is a lot of information to cover in an integrative oncology consultation. During the consultation, it is very useful to provide informative notes that can be worked through during the consultation and that the patient can take home with them at the end of the consultation. In addition, a Wellness Plan can be co-created between the clinician and patient. The Wellness Plan can cover any or all of the main topics discussed in the integrative consultation including stress and how to reduce it, nutrition, sleep, vitamin D and sunshine, exercise, supplements and herbal medicines and innovative technologies. The benefits of creating a Wellness Plan are that it may be used to schedule appointments for various therapies, set wellness goals, and provide a means for review against goals, both self-review and clinician-review. The care of patients with cancer optimally follows an integrated care model of health which involves a team of healthcare practitioners working together to provide a range of evidence-based therapies in conjunction with orthodox medical care. This model capitalises on the knowledge and expertise of several healthcare practitioners since in general, it is very hard for one clinician to be an expert in everything.