Better Health Through Integrative Medicine: A Pursuit of Lived Experience

Integrative medicine (IM) refers to the medical practice that aims for a balance in using evidence-based conventional medicine with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), or therapy interventions having a holistic view on individual health and well-being. Despite IM emergence in Australia, its contribution to the quality of healthcare from the perspectives of medical practitioners, pharmacists, consumers and other stakeholders is not well understood. In this chapter, we describe our pursuit of lived experience as individuals embracing IM with a shared goal and as IT professionals towards providing a better information awareness to the wider community. Peter De Lorenzo, the CEO of UnityHealth Pty Ltd ( www.unityhealth.com.au ), the founding owner of IMgateway.net , through his lived experience shares his successful lifestyle transition that has paved the way for establishing meaningful connections through this evidence-based online digital platform. Peter’s suffering from chronic eczema for the first 40 years of his life had raised his awareness of IM and passion for pain relief and improved health for himself, his family and the community. Sitalakshmi Venkatraman (Sita), Discipline Leader of Business Analytics in Melbourne Polytechnic describes her lived experience from being raised in a family embracing Ayurvedic Medicine and becoming a passionate IT educator and Health Informatics researcher. Sita describes her personal and career journey towards developing her research interest in the effective use of IT for a positive impact on the patient community. Peter and Sita, with their expertise in new generation digital services, together collaborate with the belief that the continued journey of IMgateway facilitates a pathway of health and understanding of a person’s life, termed as ‘holistic’. Through this chapter, we aspire to promote this holistic approach to healthcare as it imbibes evidence-based preventative health principles of safety, efficacy and applicability. Based on the personal experiences, we find a massive need in our community for bridging the gaps witnessed with the integration of conventional and complementary medicine and providing better health for the wider community.