If you’re a nurse or nurse practitioner searching for a functional medicine certification program, you’re not alone. More and more RNs and NPs are seeking meaningful ways to deliver root-cause, whole-person care - and functional medicine speaks directly to that calling. But as the number of programs offering a “certification” grows, so does the confusion about what those credentials actually mean. And I'm getting a ton of questions on this subject, so...... Let’s clear things

Functional Medicine’s Promise—and Its Problem Functional medicine has changed the way many of us think about health. It’s upstream, it’s root-cause, and it finally acknowledges what we as nurses have known all along: healing is about the whole person, not just a disease code. Patients leave functional medicine offices feeling heard in ways they never have before. They finally have a provider asking about their sleep, their stress, their nutrition, their story. But here’s the

Originally published in October 12, 2022. Updated November 8, 2025 by Dr. Brigitte Sager, DNP, IFMCP, Founder & CEO of the Institute for Functional Nursing One of the most common questions I get asked regarding practicing functional medicine as a nurse is about scope of practice, and for good reason! It is a confusing topic, and we do not want to put our hard-earned licenses at risk! I first created and taught the Functional Medicine for Nurses  program to help RNs and NPs

This article was first published July 19, 2022 and updated November 8, 2025 by Dr. Brigitte Sager, DNP, IFMCP — Founder & CEO of the Institute for Functional Nursing (IFN). The Call to Heal Again In recent years, countless nurses have changed specialties, left the bedside, or questioned their calling altogether. The pace of modern healthcare, endless charting, and production metrics have left many of us wondering what happened to the art of nursing. I hear it constantly—from

Functional nursing isn’t a trend. It’s a professional transformation —and it’s already happening. If you’ve ever wondered what it really  looks like to integrate functional medicine into nursing practice, you're not alone. One of the most common questions I get from nurses is: “What can I actually do  with this training?” The answer? A lot more than you might think. At this point, I have trained over a thousand nurses and nurse practitioners who are now weaving functional med

If you’re an RN or NP who completed the Functional Medicine for Nurses course through the Integrative Nurse Coach Academy (INCA), you’ve likely heard the news: the program is coming to a close at the end of this current cohort. And if you’re anything like the many students I have heard from recently—you’re probably asking: “Now what?” “Is there a next step?” “How do I keep growing in this specialty I love?” You’re not alone. The truth is, functional medicine for nurses has gr

In my recent blog,   Are Labs Within a Nurse’s Scope of Practice? Let’s Reframe the Conversation ,  we explored one of the most common roadblocks nurses face when transitioning into holistic or functional practice: lab testing. The feedback I received afterward was overwhelming—and familiar. “I want my patients to have access to labs, but I’m terrified of crossing scope boundaries." “My patients are asking for testing, but I don’t have a safe way to support them.” “I feel stu

What Most People Still Get Wrong About Nurses I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how often people misunderstand what nurses actually do. It’s something I hear constantly—people assuming nurses “can’t diagnose and treat” or that we’re “not supposed to make decisions, rather follow orders” in patient care. And if I’m being honest, it’s something that really frustrates me. Because I know the truth. And I’ve read enough nursing scope papers at this point—about one thousand of

by Brigitte Sager, DNP When I first started teaching functional medicine to nurses years ago, I was incredibly cautious when it came to lab work. My recommendation back then? Focus on the intake. Patient-reported symptoms. Existing lab results, if available. And then—encourage the patient to request updated and expanded labs from their primary care provider. It felt like the safest route. After all, scope of practice is no small thing. We must protect our licensure, our train