The Center for Happy-NESSS

The best way I can explain this is to do a side by side comparison of Functional Medicine to Conventional Medicine

Functional Medicine Heuristic	Functional Medicine Processes	Conventional Medicine Processes	Conventional Medicine Heuristic
Gather	Obtains Comprehensive History, Medical Symptoms Questionnaire (MSQ) at each visit, Functional Physical Exam, In-depth Assessments of MLFs	Obtains History, Review of Symptoms, Physical Exam	Subjective Data
Organize	Traditional as well as Functional Labs and Imaging	Traditional Lab and Imaging Tests	Objective Data
Tell	Treats the Root Cause	Treats the Symptoms	Assessment
Order	Focus on Modifiable Lifestyle Factors (MLFs): Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep Hygiene, Stress Reduction, Social factors with Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Considerations	Focus on Medications	Plan
Initiate	Functional Medicine is a great adjunct to conventional Medicine.	Conventional Medicine has a very important role in the path toward health.	Implementation
Track	Chronic Care: Once a condition becomes Chronic – Functional Medicine may be the better path to take on the road to health.	Acute Care: Conventional Medicine is needed to quickly reverse illness and symptoms that may cause permanent damage or death.	Evaluation