Contact: Tom Oswald, University Relations: (517) 432-0920, oswald@msu.edu

Oct. 5, 2006

EAST LANSING, Mich.— Sometimes spending a few short minutes with a health care provider just isn’t enough time to figure out what’s truly ailing the patient.

With that in mind, Michigan State University physician Edward Rosick, D.O., is taking his skills in integrative medicine and developing integrative medicine and consult services.

Located within the Family Medicine Clinic in the MSU Clinical Center, the new services give patients the opportunity to see a physician who is board certified in both integrative and preventive medicine, a first in Lansing. The Integrative Medicine Consult Service is a first-of-its-kind at the clinical center.

Integrative medicine, Rosick said, is defined as “the art and practice of dealing with patients by examining their whole mind-body-spirit interaction and using whatever appropriate methods are needed to achieve optimal health.

The consult service will allow patients ample time – as much as 90 minutes – for patient and physician to get to know one another, something Rosick said is crucial to getting to the heart of the matter.

“One of the biggest dissatisfactions people have with medical care today is not enough time,” Rosick said. “You can’t get to know a patient in 10 or 15 minutes. Often the patient is not comfortable talking about certain things in that period of time.”

“Body, mind and spirit are one in my practice. What psychological, nonphysiological processes are going on are going to affect the body.”

Rosick said integrative medicine is the “best of both worlds,” combining the wonders of modern medicine – be it the newest pharmaceuticals or the most cutting-edge technology – with other methods, some of which have been in use literally for centuries.

These complementary forms of treatment can include herbal remedies, meditation, prayer, massage and acupuncture.

“We have to realize there is more to life than just pharmaceutical medications,” Rosick said. “I’m willing to talk with the patient about what they need in order to become healthy.”

“Sitting down with a doc for 90 minutes is pretty much unheard of. In those 90 minutes the patient has my time, my ears, and they can talk about whatever they want.”

From that session, Rosick will develop an integrative health plan that will be presented to the patient at follow-up visits.

Rosick is an assistant professor in the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Department of Family and Community Medicine. A graduate of the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, he is board certified in integrative medicine, preventive medicine and public health.

For additional information, call (517) 355-1300 or visit the Web at http://www.healthteam.msu.edu/clinics/FamilyMed/default.asp?key=200.

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