Table 2.

Philosophies and principles of integrative medicine (IM) and evidence-based primary care.

Integrative medicine
A healing-oriented medicine that considers the whole person (body, mind, and spirit), including all aspects of lifestyle. It reemphasizes the relationship between patient and physician and integrates the best of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) with the best of conventional medicine [32]. The principles (of IM) include patient-centered care that is comprehensive, combines conventional and CAM interventions, supports the innate healing capacity of the individual, is least invasive and natural, promotes prevention as well as disease management, and is provided by an integrative health care team through a provider-patient partnership [1].
Primary care
Primary healthcare is the provision of healthcare services that are accessible and integrated (comprehensive, coordinated, and continuous) from clinicians who are accountable for addressing a large majority of personal healthcare needs through a sustained partnership with patients while practicing in the context of family and community [28, 29]. A patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is a team-based healthcare delivery model that provides comprehensive and continuous medicalcare to patients with the goal of obtaining maximized health outcomes. A PCMH has the attributes of first contact and continuous access to a personal physician, coordination of care, whole person orientation, a physician-led team of practitioners, quality and safety, enhanced access, and adherence to principles of patient centeredness [30].