Saper Serves as Guest Editor, Medical Clinics of North America Sept. Issue

Associate Professor of Family Medicine Robert Saper, MD, served as guest editor for the Medical Clinics of North America September 2017 issue. BUSM’s Katherine Gergan Barnett, MD, assistant professor of family medicine, and Paula Gardiner, MD, associate professor of family medicine, contributed to the issue.

As guest editor, Saper wrote a preface on the importance of Integrative Medicine and Health (IMH) and how it can be utilized to improve US health care. “Ultimately, as IMH research and clinical models mature and are increasingly incorporated into health care, medicine will become more patient-centered, relationship-centered and interprofessional,” Saper said.

Barnett authored “In Pursuit of the Fourth Aim in Health Care: The Joy of Practice,” which explains how larger systems changes in the medical field need to be made in order to prevent “burnout” among physicians. “More than 50 percent of US physicians are now experiencing burnout” as a result of increased demands of health care provider productivity, which ultimately affect patient care, said Barnett.

In the same issue, Gardiner coauthored “Integrative Medicine for Insomnia,” which supports the use of mindfulness and yoga as integrative approaches to treat insomnia.