Position paper of the EPMA and EFLM: a global vision of the consolidated promotion of an integrative medical approach to advance health care

Abstract

The authors consider acute problems in the quality and management of medical services challenging health care systems worldwide. This actuality has motivated the representatives of the European Association for Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine and European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine to consider the efforts in promoting an integrative approach based on multidisciplinary expertise to advance health care. The current paper provides a global overview of the problems related to medical services: pandemic scenario in the progression of common chronic diseases, delayed interventional approaches of reactive medicine, poor economy of health care systems, lack of specialised educational programmes, problematic ethical aspects of treatments as well as inadequate communication among professional groups and policymakers. Further, in the form of individual paragraphs, the article presents a consolidated position of the represented European organisations. This position is focused on the patients' needs, expert recommendations for the relevant medical fields and plausible solutions which have a potential to advance health care services if the long-term strategies were to be effectively implemented as proposed here.