ISU Professor Publishes Herbal Medicine Book for Health Care Providers

Written by: Chris Cole

For those who always had a little aloe plant in the kitchen, they got the habit from their parents before them. Whenever there was a small burn or scrape, they’d break off a piece and rub it on the wound, and the cool healing sensation would wash over the area.

Medicine has certainly advanced since using plants for everything, but one Idaho State University professor says we don’t have to forget everything we’ve learned in all our medical advances.

Jean Bokelmann, Complimentary Alternative Medicine and Geriatric faculty in the Department of Family Medicine and author of the new reference book for health care providers, Medicinal Herbs in Primary Care, believes providers can safely and effectively incorporate the use of medicinal herbs into their patient care.

“This book is specifically for conventional medical providers who, by the nature of their training, demand scientific rationale and evidence of efficacy for the interventions they include in their discussions with and treatment of patients,” Bokelmann said, stressing that there are many herbal self-help books out there for patients who often use medicinal herbs without the knowledge of their health care providers. “This situation can be potentially misguided and dangerous since herbs have interactions with drugs and diseases in the same way that drugs do.”

Medicinal Herbs in Primary Care provides basic general information on medicinal herbs, 48 disease-based tables directing the reader to selected herbs with evidence for particular diseases, and 55 herbal monographs giving details of each herb and providing the abstracts of preclinical and clinical research for each herb.

“Currently, the greatest obstacle to this open communication with patients about medicinal herbs is a misunderstanding and lack of information on the subject,” Bokelmann said. “This book aims to reduce or eliminate that obstacle.”

Bokelmann says the herbs described in her book can be used as stand-alone treatments or as add-on therapies to conventional pharmaceuticals and other therapies for a whole host of diagnoses.

“Most patients are open to using whatever therapy is most cost-effective,” she said. “Some patients are not willing to use pharmaceuticals at all, even when a pharmaceutical is clearly the best option. It is my sense that patients are more willing to consider pharmaceuticals when most appropriate if recommended by a health care provider who is also familiar with the use of medicinal herbs.”

Bokelmann hopes that health care providers will develop a more comfortable familiarity with medicinal herbs to forge better relationships with their patients who have a more natural approach to their wellbeing. She says patients who trust their medical provider see reduced barriers to attaining optimal health.

While the book is targeted to primary care providers who are in a patient-provider relationship, Bokelmann says it may have a broader utility in the healthcare field including nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, medical subspecialties, naturopathy, herbalism, pharmaceutical research, and herbal research. 

“As medicinal herbs are often less expensive than pharmaceuticals, it might also provide the opportunity in certain circumstances for more affordable therapy,” Bokelmann said.

Medicinal Herbs in Primary Care is available in ebook or print format wherever books are sold, including Barnes and Noble and Amazon.