In recent years, many healthcare practices have turned toward a multimodal structure to medicine that incorporates numerous specialties and even “alternative” (unconventional) practitioners. A facility that incorporates a broad spectrum of treatment strategies from traditional and nontraditional medicine is referred to as a multidisciplinary center (MDC), a.k.a. a multidisciplinary clinic.
This approach to healthcare has been rigorously tested, advocated by national governments, and adopted as a preferred approach by major medical organizations.
What is an example of an MDC?
A typical multidisciplinary practice is a pain clinic that incorporates various forms of treatment, such as the following:
- comprehensive evaluation by a medical doctor (a.k.a. a “doctor of medicine,” or MD)
- physical therapy
- chiropractic care
- massage therapy.
Benefits of an MDC
Cancer Australia, a cancer control agency established by the Australian government in 2006, advocates the MDC approach to healthcare. The strengths of this multifaceted approach to medicine are as follows, according to the organization:
- teamwork – specialists working in tandem, resulting in synergistic solutions when communication is strong between the various professionals
- diversity – immediate access for patients to a wide array of treatment philosophies and protocols, encompassing the “full therapeutic range”
- standardization – incorporation of numerous types of practitioners within one setting, allowing for the application of objectively determined multidisciplinary clinic standards
- speed – patients moving rapidly from consultation to diagnosis to treatment
- improved outcomes – higher incidence of survival in the case of life-threatening diseases such as cancer, and generally stronger rates of patient satisfaction
- patient control – access to broader options, allowing patients better opportunities to consider, discuss, control, and guide their own care
- patient knowledge – enhanced understanding for everyone who visits the MDC, due to the multifarious angles utilized for recovery.
Adoption by cutting-edge medical institutions
Because of the benefits to an MDC listed above, the strategy has become extraordinarily popular, even with widely recognized institutions. John Hopkins Medicine utilizes the multidisciplinary clinic model because it is advantageous to patients in three primary ways (concurring with three of the elements listed by Cancer Australia) :
- broad access to treatment modalities (see “diversity” above)
- consensus via specialist collaboration (see “teamwork”)
- discussion of advantages and disadvantages of various options (see “patient control”).
Health Star Clinic is committed to a multidisciplinary approach as well. Our treatment plans focus on a healthy and happy experience, combining evaluation by a medical doctor with the modalities of physical therapy, massage therapy, and chiropractic care. A free consultation today can set you on the road to recovery.