An in-depth Look at Careers in Homeopathy

A career in homeopathy may see a candidate working as a physician specialising in homeopathic medicine or as a naturopathic practitioner or both. A job is only viable after completing medical school whereby a physician who specialises in homeopathy will attend and finish medical school and then take and complete another course in homeopathy. For the naturopathic practitioner, the requirement is to complete studies at a naturopathic medical school.

Essential Information

Homeopathy treatment approach addresses various medical issues and the promotion of overall health via the use of holistic remedies. Most naturopathic doctors in the U.S. practice homeopathic medicine. Standard medical practitioners also employ homeopathic treatment to supplements their practices. Nevertheless, all these practitioners are expected to have a professional doctorate and licences to work in their respective careers.

Career Options

The standard physician, as well as the naturopathic practitioners, will see patients, diagnoses their health issues and prescribe the appropriate treatments. But homeopathy takes a slightly different path or approach.

Naturopathic Doctor

To become an acknowledged naturopathic doctor, a candidate must study for four years in a naturopathic medical school and graduate in the fields of traditional and alternative medicine. The candidate will have to take and pass the licensing exam for naturopathic physicians form a licenced school such as School of Natural Health Sciences. Some states may have different licensure requirements for naturopathic practice, which vary from state to state and not all states regulate the practice.

Regarding the homeopathic element in naturopathic practice, it is segmented into the study of classical homeopathy and practical homeopathy, which cover the foundations of homeopathy. It also entails an in-depth review and understanding of Homeopathic Materia Medica (a reference guide used for prescribing homeopathic remedies).

Physician

Traditional health practitioners are required to take a 4-years study program that includes homeopathy and graduate from an accredited medical school. Also, the traditional doctors are required to pass the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam for them to practice. For standard doctors that intend to incorporate homeopathy into their practice, they are required to take Continuing Medical Education courses that include homeopathy.

Homeopathic Methodology

The homeopathic practice is a holistic approach to treating illnesses that relies on the use of natural remedies that suit the patients’ unique cases and lifestyle. Exercising, diet, resting (sleep), and work lifestyle are all factors that influence our health and overall well-being. As such, homeopathic treatment is rendered with the role and impact of these factors in mind.

homeopathy treatment aims at stimulating the patient’s body to encourage self-healing by inhibiting the overall impact illness, and other things have on the body thereby allowing the body to respond better and return it is proper operation. The homeopathic remedies work based on the principle of ‘memory of water’ and are created through dilution. Ideally, it is a process where succession and dilution of substances used to make a remedy will imprint a substantial percentage of the original material in the produced remedy, whether the base substance is present or not.

Certification

In an attempt to establish standardisation of homeopathy education and practice, different health and medicine organisation that include the American Board of Homeotherapeutics and the Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians, offer national certifications. Additionally, homeopathy schools in Canada and the United States get their accreditation from the Council of Homeopathic Certification.

Salary Information

Since homeopathic practice is either a multi-faceted treatment approach used by naturopathic doctors or a supplemental practice used by standard medical doctors, it is not easy to give the correct estimates of salary base pay for U.S. based homeopathic practitioners. Nevertheless, the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) in the United States indicates a mean annual salary for a surgeon or physician to be $197,700 as of May 2015 and $85,120 for doctors (including the naturopathic practitioners) who major in health diagnosis and treatment.

From a general perspective, health and medicine doctors are expected to have licences to practice, though this is not a requirement for homoeopath practitioners in all states. Few organisations are accredited to offer homeopathy education and certification, but the number is growing. Moreover, the profession is expected to register significant growth in career opportunities across the entire job market.