ADVANCED CLINICAL SKILLS PROGRAM
Skill Set
In this program you will learn to conduct an effective and comprehensive interview, learn to recognize patterns in the lifestyle, diet, constitutional presentation, and symptom pictures, learn to synthesize information through case analysis and develop and deliver an effective treatment plan, learn to develop patient-specific formulas in a fast and flexible manner, and learn a comprehensive approach with nutrition for the most common deficiencies and imbalances in the modern patient.
Prerequisites
Infectious Disease I: Viral Infections
Infectious Disease II: Bacteria, Biofilms, and Chronic Infection
Clinical Skills I:
Interview Skills in the Vitalist Tradition See full description
In this first course in the Clinical Skills sequence, we first describe the personal challenges of the healing path, and then give the skill set to get accurate and complete information from your patient. If you don't get the story right, then all your knowledge of plants and nutrition will be wasted.
Clinical Skills II:
Intake and Pattern Assessment See full description
In this second course in our Clinical Skills sequence, we describe the items for an intake in detail, and describe patterns to be assessed during the process.
Clinical Skills III:
Case Analysis in the Vitalist Tradition See full description
In this third course in our Advanced Clinical Skills sequence, we describe processes to synthesize the material gathered during the interview, to assess the contributions of nutrient deficiencies to the presenting symptoms, and to use pattern recognition in the presentation and the history to proceed to a treatment plan.
Clinical Skills IV:
Case Studies in Vitalist Herbalism See full description
In this fourth course in our Advanced Clinical Skills sequence, we present a series of successful case histories based on the interview and analytical methods presented in the first 3 courses, so that the vision of the successful case can help demonstrate the kind of information most important to elicit to develop an effective vitalist treatment plan.
Clinical Materia Medica Materia I:
Medica Medica Differentials and Herbal Analogues
See full description
A complete study of materia medica goes far deeper than the this-for-that model of herbalism. For effective clinical use, and to avoid adverse humoral/energetic effects, an herb must be understood in the categories of humoral and energetic effects, including hot vs. cold, moist vs dry, tension vs relaxation, in addition to definite clinical actions, tissues affected, uses, and useful combinations and formulas. With this depth of study, we find that herbs can be recognized in groups that have very similar effects, and may be interchanged as analogues clinically. In this course we describe more than 30 such “herbal affinity groups” of more than 100 herbs, show how the herbs within the group may be used as analogues, and describe differentials between them.
Clinical Materia Medica II:
Herbal Pairing and Modular Formulation See full description
The clinical art of formulation is to devise a formula appropriate to each patient, specific in its components and their proportions to the condition of the patient, and adjusted or modified to their constitutional presentation. We begin with the study of simple pairs, and then progress to formula modules of 2-4 complementary herbs which can themselves be combined flexibly into larger formulas. In this course we study classical combination and formulas, as well as modern adaptations.
Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism I:
Nutrition in the Herbal Paradigm See full description
In many cases a permanent cure comes not from an herbal medicine, but rather from correction of a nutrient deficiency, addition of specific foods, and work to find the optimal dietary pattern for the individual. For the herbalist entering the field of clinical nutrition, foods and nutrients might be studied in the paradigm of herbal actions. If magnesium were an herb, it would be classified as antispasmodic, cardio-tonic, chi tonic and adaptogenic. Supplementation to correct this common deficiency should accompany herbs given for those purposes. If the deficiency is not corrected, no amount of herbal medicine will effectively solve the problem. In this course we offer an overview of the most common nutrients and dietary patterns, and offer a general protocol for most modern patients, based on experience in our teaching clinics since 1996. We also offer some specific interventions for various syndromes and dietary patterns.
Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism II
Obesity, Metabolism, and Ethics in Weight Loss See full description
In this course we review the science on weight loss, including 3 meta-analyses which each reached the same conclusion: that it is medically unethical to advise a patient to restrict calories in order to lose weight. though counter intuitive, this fact is consistent with the metabolic model of obesity, and the fact that many dieters eventually gain more weight than they initially lose. We show root causes of the obesity epidemic, clarify issues concerning BMI as a marker of health, and direction for therapeutics aimed at the metabolic basis of many cases of obesity.
Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism III
Introduction to Insulin Resistance See full description
Insulin resistance is the root pathology not only of Type II diabetes, but also contributes to heart disease, stroke, obesity, hypertension, several common cancers, and other conditions ranging from polycystic ovarian disease to acne to brittle bones and depression. It is a pathology fundamental to the “diseases of civilization.” Although cell level pathology is complex, the roots of this condition are based in malnutrition in the basic nutrients that regulate insulin, untrained muscle mass, and imbalances in the carbohydrate content of the diet. Correcting these three roots of insulin resistance, along with herbal allies to help restore imbalance, can cause some chronic diseases to resolve in a matter of weeks to months. In this course you will learn the pathophysiology of insulin resistance, and the influence of diet, exercise, nutrition and herbs on the condition. You will gain understanding and competence in the clinical application of protocols based on the material learned.