Board-certified Health Coaches?What Integrative Physicians Need to Know.

Health and wellness coaching will formally enter the health care system in 2017 through the International Consortium for Health and Wellness Coaching (ICHWC), which successfully established the National Board-certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) credential in partnership with the National Board of Medical Examiners. Surveys suggest close to 20 000 health coaches are qualified for certification. Health coaches "partner with clients seeking self-directed, lasting changes, aligned with their values, which promote health and wellness and, thereby, enhance well-being." Health coaching involves 3 steps: (1) exploring and building self-awareness, (2) taking action steps, and (3) monitoring and evaluating results. The ICHWC developed a standard of practice published as the job task analysis. As a salutogenic intervention, health coaching offers clients and integrative clinicians a cost-effective approach to supporting ongoing sustaining positive health outcomes.

The first international congress on whole person care--a report.

This report on the First International Congress on Whole Person Care, sponsored by McGill University, is based on the experiences of two attending authors who developed a poster of Integral Theory that emphasized the importance of taking multiple perspectives in all areas of human inquiry to allow a "big picture" perspective on medicine. Interiors (thoughts, intentions, will) of both physician and patient are as important as the exteriors (measurable parameters, such as lab results) which are often emphasized.

Managing unused pharmaceuticals in a hospice setting: a pilot study.

With the escalating use of pharmaceuticals in health care, there has been increasing anxiety over the potential health risks associated with pharmaceutical waste accumulating in the environment. This research provided nurses in a hospice care facility in Concord, California, with education and training to offer patients a medication disposal service through the use of mail-back envelopes. Over the 6-month study period, 160 of the 400 distributed mailers were returned for disposal. The total weight of pharmaceuticals diverted for incineration was 107 pounds, with an average weight of 0.66 pounds per mailer. This study suggests that the mailer system and proper education of medical staff have the potential to improve medical waste management, but alternative approaches may be necessary to increase the rate of envelop return.