Patient needs are evolving rapidly. Recent data indicates widespread dissatisfaction with the current healthcare system, with some patients feeling it is overly focused on treating illness rather than prioritizing prevention and overall wellness.
What they want, instead, is more personalized healthcare. Most have expressed that they want clinicians to invest more time in understanding their unique needs and fostering stronger relationships.
It is evident that patients are expecting more from their healthcare practitioners than ever before. The Samueli Institute is working to meet that demand through a highly personalized, collaborative approach that emphasizes prevention and integrative whole-person care.
Arvin Jenab, ND, medical director of naturopathic medicine at Samueli Institute, notes that highly advanced diagnostics and tests are enabling clinicians at the Samueli Institute to “better determine underlying causes or functional imbalances that are driving disease.”
One such diagnostic tool is the EndoPAT test, the only FDA-cleared test for the non-invasive assessment of endothelial dysfunction, which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. The device attaches to the finger and records arterial pulsatile volume changes.
Jenab also highlights that the Samueli Institute utilizes specialty lab testing from Boston Heart Diagnostics. These advanced blood tests assess cardiometabolic health by looking at an expanded panel that helps identify genetic, inflammatory, and metabolic factors that may be at play, allowing clinicians to target treatment and mitigate risk of disease through individualized treatment plans. Similarly, the DUTCH panel, an advanced urinary test, offers a comprehensive view of hormonal health and helps to identify imbalances.
“These tools all allow Samueli Institute clinicians to assess patients at a more functional level”, Jenab says, adding that this is what sets the Samueli Institute apart.
“What we do differently is we delve deeper into evaluating upstream functions or systems that may be leading to downstream symptoms,” he says. “For example, patients can have joint pains, but the joint pain is not contained or limited to just joint pain. Joint pain can be an expression of upstream functions that need support… immune system or digestive system, for example. So by evaluating those upstream systems, we can determine whether they play a role in the patient’s symptomology, so that we can address and optimize those systems.”
As a result, the patient receives care that is personalized to their unique circumstances, helping them avoid cookie-cutter treatment plans that may not truly address their health concerns. “This helps us be more targeted in addressing patient needs very specifically on a one-on-one basis,” Jenab says.
From here, the patient has access to a wide range of healthcare professionals under one roof who specialize in each facet of their whole-person care. At the Samueli Institute, practitioners range from medical and osteopathic doctors to naturopathic doctors, integrative pharmacists, acupuncturists, registered dietitian nutritionists, health and wellness coaches, nurse practitioners, psychologists, and more. Jenab notes this is a distinctive feature of the Samueli Institute. He says it is “fairly unique” for naturopathic doctors, for example, to work so closely with other medical practitioners in the same institute.
“Sharing this space together”, Jenab says, “is what allows multidisciplinary providers to easily collaborate on a patient’s care and work together to understand the complexities of their health — bringing a whole-person view of the patient into focus.”
By utilizing advanced diagnostics and testing, along with enhanced collaboration across disciplines, clinicians at the Samueli Institute are enabled to deliver the personalized, team-based care that patients are looking for.
