Bastyr University(February 25, 2010) - Bastyr University students Todd Born, Joshua Lloyd and Mohammad Shegeft recently traveled to the United Kingdom in order to learn more about the realities of practicing naturopathic medicine in the UK. The trip was made possible with the help of the Bastyr venture grant program, which is intended to aid students in the pursuit of innovative projects that will expand their knowledge of medicine, benefit the communities they visit and, later, enrich the entire Bastyr community when they return and share their newly acquired knowledge.
The trip revealed some enlightening and encouraging facts.
Naturopathic doctors are permitted to set up private practices in the UK. However, those who earn a diplomat of naturopathy (also designated as an "ND") must also be credentialed as doctors of osteopathy (DO) to be covered under the UK's free national health care service. And NDs do face limits to their scope of practice (such as writing prescriptions, giving breast exams and ordering lab tests).
On the positive side, all three students returned optimistic about the positive shift in attitudes toward naturopathic medicine in the UK. The "tide is beginning to turn," Lloyd says. "Many people there are eager to see naturopathic medicine become more widely available."
The group was also pleased to discover that Bastyr University is well-known across the Atlantic. "Almost every doctor we talked to in every country we visited knew of Bastyr University," Born says. "They told us we were paving the way for naturopathic medicine. Bastyr's reputation preceded us, and they just wanted to support us and learn more about the University and what we were doing."
The three students were able to visit various naturopathic medicine clinics in Ireland, Scotland and England, as well as to study traditional osteopathy and physical medicine at the British College of Osteopathic Medicine (BCOM) in London.
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