Teaching integratively: how the next generation of doctors will practice

To prepare the next generation of physicians, we must understand the environment in which they will practice. Teaching integratively involves co-creating that future health care system with medical students, their teachers, and their patients working together. This essay takes a look at what the health care system of the future might look like, how efforts in medical education are helping create the practitioner of the future, and how current models of practice are already evolving to reflect a view of the future. In addition, multiple references, Web sites, and other resources are listed to provide the reader with useful tools for education, practice, and research. Integrative medicine is the medicine of the future. We can help bring that future about by identifying educational needs and pressing public health issues, reliable scholarly resources, and creative solutions. This article is divided into three sections: (1) the future vision of health care, (2) co-creating the health care system of the future, and (3) recognizing elements of medical care of the future that are here now.