• Just like any physician’s office, the initial consultation is your time to meet with the physician to establish care.  Unlike your conventional physician visit, where you only get 10-15 minutes to meet with them, you meet with Dr. Ferreira for up to 60 minutes.  Most patients that seek care from practitioners like Dr. Ferreira are not looking for a “quick fix” with a prescription received at the end of the visit.  Instead, Dr. Ferreira takes the time to understand your past and current medical history so she may be able to start gathering clues in helping her put together a treatment plan that addresses the cause of your symptoms opposed to just treating them with a prescription and/or supplement/herb, which cannot be done in a 10-15 minute visit.  Without a solid understanding of your overall health, current and past, then she would be unable to determine the probable cause of your symptom presentation.  After a thorough Review of Systems then Dr. Ferreira determines what labs need to be ran so she can get additional information that will allow her to come to a conclusion of the origin of your symptoms.  At this point she will write you a lab order (if you have insurance that covers labs) or she may make laboratory suggestions with a laboratory directed towards patients who are not insured and/or under insured, Ulta Lab Tests, so you may be able to purchase labs from them at an inexpensive price.  At the conclusion of your time Dr. Ferreira performs a physical exam, which allows her to gather additional clues about your overall health by assessing the following: the cardiovascular system, the respiratory system, Head-Eyes-Ears-Nose-and-Throat (HEENT), dermatological assessment, and abdominal assessment.  These three sections of the initial consultation, the Review of Systems, Order for Laboratory Results, and Physical Exam findings are necessary for her to conduct your second appointment.  All of these sections of the first visit do require time so it is not unusual that individuals with more complex health histories can take an additional 15-30 minutes on top of the original 60 minutes.  By allowing Dr. Ferreira to lead the appointment with her directed questions will allow you to stay within the 60 minute timeframe, however, if a patient wishes to over share information that is not relative to her directed question then it is likely the appointment will go over the 60 minutes she needs to conduct a thorough health history. 
• The second visit with Dr. Ferreira is where she presents your treatment plan to you, where she may recommend any prescriptions, nutritional and herbal supplements suggestions, lifestyle recommendations and therapy suggestions.  She starts the consultation by reviewing your laboratory results with you so you too can understand what they mean and will help you understand why she is making certain treatment suggestions.  You can ask her questions regarding any of your laboratory values and/or treatment suggestions so you can be more involved in your own health care moving forward.  Although it may take her ~30 minutes to go over the laboratory results and treatment plan, it is your questions that can take an additional 15-30 minutes.  Most patients take 45-60 minutes at the second visit, depending on how complex your case may be and/or how involved your questions are.  Any additional time past the 60 minute time frame may be carried into an additional appointment if there is not enough time in the schedule to fit extra time to further discuss your questions and/or concerns.  If there is enough time in the schedule to go over 60 minutes please be aware that an additional fee is charged per 15 minutes increments.
• If a treatment suggestion is given, such as IV therapy, acupuncture, etc., please be aware that a separate appointment would need to be set up to accommodate the schedule.  All services are separate from one another regarding cost.  Per Current Procedure Terminology (CPT) set out by the American Medical Association (AMA), each service has a CPT code associated with the service rendered.  For this reason consultations with Dr. Ferreira are arranged by time, to follow AMA guidelines for CPT codes set up for time with the physician.  Doing so allows patients to use the Health Savings Account (HSA) cards, Flex Spending Account (FSA) cards and/or submit their receipt to their health insurance plan to see if they are eligible for reimbursement.  There is a wide range of  services so prices for each service can be done once Dr. Ferreira has recommended the service as to prevent confusion and/or sharing information of services that are not relevant to your treatment plan.

• It is dependent on a case by case basis. 
• After the first initial visit Dr. Ferreira often will reschedule you in 2 weeks to review the treatment plan she creates for your individual case.  She will be able to take the information she learned about your case in the first visit and accompany with it the findings she evaluated from your labs she ordered.  After this point it may vary from 6 weeks to 3 months.  As your case stabilizes from the treatment plan recommendations then the frequency of visits will continue to be farther apart, from 3-6-9 months. The end goal is to have your health be optium and require bi-annual or annual visits. 
• If you are seeking acupuncture treatment and not general medicine services, it is best to have a series of 4-6 treatments prior to evaluating if acupuncture is beneficial in your case.  Most treatment sessions are often 1 week apart at most and at minimum of ever 2-3 days.  After this time frame then Dr. Ferreira will re-evaluate your case to see what may be best for your treatment options.

• Yes. Dr. Ferreira attended Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, which in as 4-year post-graduate college that has been accredited by the national governing bodies as a Naturopathic Medical School. 
• There are three physician in this nation and each has their own medical school with their own curriculum.  Medical Doctors (MDs) go to an allopathic medical school, also known as a conventional medical school.  Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs) go to Osteopathic Medical School.  And lastly, Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) or Naturopathic Medical Doctors (NMDs) go to Naturopathic Medical School. To learn more about the differences between each of these physicians please visit the following link:  https://www.naturopathic.org/natfaqs#Differences%20between%20NDs

• Yes.  Dr. Ferreira completed a medical residency through Bastyr University, a Naturopathic Medical School.  Her residency was an Integrative Medicine Residency and she had an Osteopathic Physician (DO) as her Attending Physician, while her Supervising Physician was a Naturopathic Physician (NMD).  During her residency she did rotations with Medical Doctors (MDs) too here in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California.  She also completed a rotation at the Infectious Diseases Clinic, Clinic 1A, at the University of Utah Hospital alongside an MD.

Definition provided by the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians.

Naturopathic medicine is a distinct primary health care profession, emphasizing prevention, treatment, and optimal health through the use of therapeutic methods and substances that encourage individuals’ inherent self-healing process.  The practice of naturopathic medicine includes modern and traditional, scientific, and empirical methods.

The following principles are the foundation of naturopathic medical practice:

• The Healing Power of Nature: Naturopathic medicine recognizes an inherent self-healing process in people that is ordered and intelligent. Naturopathic physicians act to identify and remove obstacles to healing and recovery, and to facilitate and augment this inherent self-healing process.
• Identify and Treat the Causes: The naturopathic physician seeks to identify and remove the underlying causes of illness rather than to merely eliminate or suppress symptoms.
• First Do No Harm: Naturopathic physicians follow three guidelines to avoid harming the patient:
  • Utilize methods and medicinal substances which minimize the risk of harmful side effects, using the least force necessary to diagnose and treat;
  • Avoid when possible the harmful suppression of symptoms; and
  • Acknowledge, respect, and work with individuals’ self-healing process.
• Doctor as Teacher: Naturopathic physicians educate their patients and encourage self-responsibility for health. They also recognize and employ the therapeutic potential of the doctor-patient relationship.
• Treat the Whole Person: Naturopathic physicians treat each patient by taking into account individual physical, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social, and other factors. Since total health also includes spiritual health, naturopathic physicians encourage individuals to pursue their personal spiritual development.
• Prevention: Naturopathic physicians emphasize the prevention of disease by assessing risk factors, heredity and susceptibility to disease, and by making appropriate interventions in partnership with their patients to prevent illness.

NATUROPATHIC PRACTICE

Naturopathic practice includes the following diagnostic and therapeutic modalities: clinical and laboratory diagnostic testing, nutritional medicine, botanical medicine, naturopathic physical medicine (including naturopathic manipulative therapy), public health measures, hygiene, counseling, minor surgery, homeopathy, acupuncture, prescription medication, intravenous and injection therapy, and naturopathic obstetrics (natural childbirth).