Vancouver naturopathic doctor Vanessa Lindsay has been treating a longtime patient's high blood pressure through nutrition and exercise.
"So using the complementary care when it's appropriate, but also integrating those conventional tools when necessary." Amid a family doctor shortage in Canada, many naturopathic doctors position themselves as a solution, arguing that they have the training to be a patient's primary care provider. To become a naturopathic doctor in Canada, students must have a bachelor's degree and then take four years of training at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. That training involves"biomedical and clinical sciences," including pharmacology and learning about immunization, said O'Reilly.
But Cohen disputed any notion that naturopathic doctors — even those who go through the college — can be considered a type of family doctor.Cohen said she has looked"pretty thoroughly" into the training of naturopathic doctors and found neither the curriculum nor the clinical practice requirements equip them to diagnose and treat serious illnesses.
The type of clinical training also differs, she said, as those training to be family doctors see a wide variety of patients — many of them very sick — through hospital rotations. Dr. Tahmeena Ali, president of BC Family Doctors, agreed that naturopathic doctors can play a specific role as part of a patient's primary care team and said she welcomes their contributions.
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