Available, Affordable, and Convenient #Nutrition and #FunctionalMedicine Protocols
- Dr Vasquez
- Jul 18, 2016
- 4 min read
Post-graduate and continuing medical education in functional medicine has notoriously been described as 1) expensive, 2) inapplicable, and 3) self-congratulatory; each of these will be described:
Functional medicine CME is notoriously expensive: Doctors pay some of the highest per-hour fees in all of CME to study functional medicine. As such, the entire field becomes elitist and associated with inordinate charges.
Big words and concepts without immediate application: We've all attended seminars and conferences in functional medicine that are loaded with exciting concepts and ideas, but which cannot be applied clinically. This is not entirely accidental; by keeping people excited yet dependent, conference organizers can sell more courses and package them together in "certification" programs.
Self-congratulatory: Nearly all of us have attended functional medicine conferences where we in the audience are told how lucky we are to be in attendance, as if payment, travel, and time away from work and home and family were not already sufficient. This lack of humility again contributes to the elitist reputation of certain functional medicine groups.
Now with the publication of Inflammation Mastery 4th Edition and the progressive release of digital/ebook versions of the same, doctors and clinicians can spend more time learning and mastering the material rather than (as detailed below) traveling to airports, hotels, conferences and investing so much time away from home and office.
Simply access the book, watch the videos, and gain immediate and convenient access to the clinical protocols you've been craving.
Immediate download: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IFU4RQO/
Reasonable and affordable price: The textbook of Inflammation Mastery 4th Edition is 1200 pages, printed in full-color. Any practicing clinician can easily recoup the price of the book in a single day, assuredly within the first week of use. For patients who want such an authoritative book to help guide their own treatment, they will find the cost of the book to be less than that of an office visit with most clinicians. Smaller books and excerpts are also available for patients and clinicians who want to focus on only one topic; some ebooks are available less than the cost of a mocha: http://bit.ly/AmazonICHNFM
Immediate applicability: The book is written entirely for clinical applications. No "fluff" except for a few contextualizing conversations and a few colorful photos on pages that mark transitions from one chapter to another.
At your service: The book is intended to DELIVER THE GOODS not simply talk about and talk around the subjects. The book provides the concepts, citations, and videos that aid learning, application, and confidence.
Textbooks and video tutorials: Inflammation Mastery, 4th Edition contains the updated version of most of the main protocols, bound together in a single volume of nearly 1200 pages. The work is also available as a two-volume set titled Textbook of Clinical Nutrition and Functional Medicine; Volume 1 contains Chapters 1-4 and Volume 2 contains Chapter 5. One can get oriented to the work by viewing the PDF excerpt, a large file of approximately 50 pages including the Table of Contents, page and photo samples, and the Index. All of the large books mentioned above provide access to video presentations and tutorials. These books are not simply compilations of information; they are organized systems of thought. Some sections of the book have been published separately, for example as clinical monographs on individual topics such as the treatment of viral infections, migraine, and fibromyalgia, as you can see here in our complete list of ICHNFM books on Amazon: http://bit.ly/AmazonICHNFM
Dr Vasquez: "Headlines and soundbites allow us to select and reinforce the ideas we want to see and hear. Articles provide information; essays provide perspectives and ideas. Textbooks can simply provide organized information, as an assemblage of articles, or --if structured-- can provide complete systems of thought, allowing not simply for the transmission of information but for the transferal of intellectual structure, an integrated system of thought."
Conferences: The most expensive and least efficient way to access new information
Summary: Most of the time and effort and money invested in traveling to a conference has nothing to do with learning; we should consider the lack of learning efficiency, or learning inefficiency, and the massive costs in transportation, plus the residual carbon footprint
Air-travel leaves a huge carbon footprint
Calculator: carbonfootprint.com/
What time-money costs are involved in "going to a conference"?
Trip planning: flight, hotel, car.
Flight costs $750, car/taxi/shuttle $100,
hotel at $150 per night for 3 nights
Travel: packing clothes/computer/toiletries (.5-1),
to airport parking (.5-1),
check-in and waiting (.5-1),
time spent passing security (.5-1),
flight, (2-4 hours),
finding/using taxi/shuttle/rental to hotel (.5-1)
Care/sitting/supervision children/pets—$200 is common; not included in tabulation
Searching for and buying food at new location: hassle, more expensive: estimated here at 1 hour per 2 days X2 (add $50 for travel/lost food)
Not included here is social time and time spent at vendor’s tables where you may/not pickup glossy catalogs (mostly never read)
Actual attendance at presentation = real value = this is the learning process and experience: how much are you paying per hour for CME—$100 per hour? Let’s assume $100 per hour for 16 hours. Of course, not all presentations are good, so some of the time is wasted.
finding/using taxi/shuttle/rental to airport (.5-1)
Return flight and security....
to airport parking (.5-1),
check-in and waiting (.5-1), security (.5-1),
flight, (2-4 hours),
UNpacking clothes/computer/toiletries (.5-1)
Conferences are good for meeting people, if that is the goal. If the goal is learning and mastering material, then books and especially video-supported books such as Inflammation Mastery or the two-volume version as Textbook of Clinical Nutrition and Functional Medicine are clearly the better use of time, energy and funds for learning.
Studying is the Path to Learning and Gaining Expertise and Mastery
VIDEO 1 hour: Introduction to the "Functional Inflammology Protocol" presented at the 2013 International Conference on Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine. This foundational protocol underlies all treatments and protocols detailed in Inflammation Mastery, 4th Edition, which includes the full-text of Brain Inflammation
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