MÉDECINE GÉNÉRALE ET MÉDECINE THERMALE, PARTENAIRES D'UNE MÉDECINE HOLISTIQUE/General medicine and crenotherapy, partners of a holistic medicine

• Published in: Presse thermale et climatique Vol. 153; p. 149
• Main Authors: Di Patrizio, Paolo, Boulangé, Michel, Kanny, Gisèle
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: Paris Société Française de Médecine Thermale 01.01.2016
• Subjects: Alternative medicine; Holistic medicine; Quality of care; Quality of life; Resorts & spas
• ISSN: 0032-7875; 2513-7972

The spa therapy and general practice offer a holistic medical approach, i.e. global, focused on the patient and his environment. The general practitioner is the referent environmentalist doctor for the patient. The spa doctor will treat the patient in a new setting. Optimal cooperation between general practitioner and spa doctor is the basis for an appropriate response to current health needs that are prevention, supportive care, rehabilitation and accompaniment of aging. The authors describe the biopsychosocial basis of general practice and areas of competence shared with thermal medicine. It is essential that the course of treatment hitherto focused on curative care is moving towards a holistic approach to health that gives the prevention, diagnosis and supportive care their place. It appears necessary to strengthen training to ambulatory primary care; the clinic must resume the upward on technology. The place of thermal medicine in health care course is not well known by the general practitioner. The teaching of Spa therapy must be upgraded in the second cycle of medical studies and enrolled in the teaching model of specialized studies in general medicine. Prescribing a spa therapy justifies a dedicated consultation and after the thermal cares, a monitoring to assess the impact of the treatment on the patient's quality of life, care and targeted needs.