What will a Homeopathic Practitioner will do in a consultation?
Homeopathy as a primary healthcare profession, acknowledges the importance of individualisation. Homeopathy is patient driven and caters for every patient's unique experience of illness on a mental, emotional and physical level.
Homeopathic practitioners are clinically trained to diagnose and treat disease, yet their holistic approach enables them to listen to and understand the patient as well as their ailments, in addition to providing effective treatment, sound advice and support. Although Homeopathic Practitioners work on these principles, individual practitioners have their own approach in consulting with patients. Initial consultations can be longer than follow ups, depending on the complaint of the patient and the approach of the chosen practitioner.
In the first consultation the practitioner may, just like a medical practitioner, ask a series of questions regarding the patient's general health, past medical history and family history. These questions are essential to the practitioner forming a comprehensive profile of each patient. To complete the patient's profile, Homeopathic practitioners also perform physical examinations and will request special investigations where necessary. The Homeopathic practitioner will then determine and prescribe the medicine that specifically corresponds with the needs and profile of the particular patient.
Follow up consultations are usually shorter but, owing to the holistic nature of Homeopathic consultations, it may take as long as an initial consultation depending on the nature of the complaint.
Some Homeopathic practitioners are also registered in other
professions, such as naturopathy, osteopathy, or as medical
practitioners, and may also incorporate those modalities into
their practice. However, it is imperative that the patient be
aware that although many of these may fall under the umbrella
of complementary therapies, they are not Homeopathic. In South
Africa, the scope of practice of a Homeopathic practitioner
provides for the inclusion of a number of non-Homeopathic modalities,
but some modalities may specifically require legal registration
with a particular statutory health council. For more information,
please contact myself or the Homeopathic Association of South
Africa (HSA) or the Allied Health Professions Council of South
Africa (AHPCSA).
