Are you considering a career in functional medicine? This article will help you look at the pros/cons of starting a careers in functional medicine. It will help you determine if functional medicine is right for you!

Pros of a Career in Functional Medicine

• Deeper job satisfaction via understanding (and reversing root causes)
• Better patient results and therefore happier patients
• More in line with a cash based practice and therefore less running your practice based upon insurance
• Understanding of lab testing and interpretation based upon understanding the “why of disease: and not just for assigning labels so you can prescribe medications
• Useful for helping get people OFF of medication instead of on it
• Better awareness of the most up to date research
• Longer visits with clients and therefore better relationships

Cons of a Career in Functional Medicine

• Requires additional education
• Insurance does not cover everything so may need to know how to run a cash (or semi-cash) based practice
• To do it well, takes time, money and commitment to the education process.

There are honestly way more pros than cons to starting your functional medicine career. One of the biggest pros comes down to a deeper sense of purpose and deeper meaning and fulfillment in your life and your days. Imagine coming home from your day to your friends, family and life while smiling as you think about your day and the impact you had on the lives of others.

A career in functional medicine involves not only changing lives but it involves giving hope. Think about the reward that comes with seeing autoimmune disease, IBS, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome reverse in someone that was told they would have to live with their disease for their entire life.  Think about what happens when you get to take someone off of a medication that they thought they were going to be on for their entire life.

Many people shy away from starting their career in functional medicine due to not wanting to invest the money or the time into shifting their career. If you are on the fence, ask yourself:

• Are you happy at the end of your work days?
• Do you feel like your life has purpose?
• If you could enjoy your life more, would it be worth sacrificing some things for roughly 6 months to 1 year (the amount of time needed to get a base level of functional medicine under your belt)?
• Do you miss learning?
• Are you satisfied with your patient outcomes?
• Are you confident with lab testing and treatment strategies?
• Are your patients happy with their medical results?
• How are the reviews of your practice?
• Are people satisfied with your care?
• Do people rave about you to your friends and family?
• Does your team and support staff feel excited about what you do?
• Is your clinical practice in alignment with your personal values and ethics?
• Are you sick of running your clinical practice based upon insurance and medications?

Everything in life is a trade off. We gain in some areas, while we lose in others. What I am trying to help you with here is analyzing the cost/benefit ratio of starting your career (or advancing your career) in functional medicine. If you are generally happy with your practice, the results you are getting and your patients are happy and healthy, then a career in functional medicine may not be right for you.

Conversely, if you are resonating with the questions above, you may want to look further into a functional medicine career.

We have seen many surgeons and specialist of all kinds go through our program and express that they feel they are making a difference in a completely new way. Obviously, drugs and surgeries have a place and can save lives. AND, what if you can reverse a disease process BEFORE it even gets that far? What if you can change lives without needing surgeries and drugs? Can you imagine how that feels?

Our functional medicine programs are turnkey in approach. We help people easily get started in their functional medicine career. Our programs take you on the journey of a clinician starting with an understanding of what labs to order in the first visit with a patient as well as how to talk to your potential patients about utilizing functional medicine more. If you are interested in learning more about starting a career in functional medicine, you can check out our training programs HERE.

One of the biggest points of feedback we have heard our clients say is that the program made it EASY to implement functional medicine into their practice.

One more set of questions to help you determine if a career in functional medicine is right for you are as follows:

• If functional medicine could help you gain more confidence in your practice, what would that do for you that you could not do now?
• If functional medicine could help you get better patient results, what would that do for you that you cannot do now?     
• If functional medicine  could help you increase your average client lifetime retention rate, what could that do for you that you could not do now?
• How would having more confidence benefit you?
• What effect could a deeper understanding of functional medicine have on your practice
• If you could get better results for people in less time, what would that do for your practice
• If you could get better results for people in less time, what would that do for your enjoyment of practicing medicine
• By getting better results faster do you feel this would generate more referrals and build your business quicker
• What other projects could you work on in your professional life if you had less time focused on searching for treatment answers that you do not know?
•  What other projects could you work on in your personal life if you had more time freed due to better patient outcomes and longer patient retention time?

You can also schedule a call with us to talk about our programs and about starting a career in functional medicine. To book a call go HERE.

Best of Luck On Your Career Path!

Dr. Diane