Why Functional Medicine Needs Nurses: The Key to Making Care Sustainable and Accessible

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 other side of that truth: the way many functional practices are set up right now isn’t very efficient. Providers (typically NPs and MDs) are exhausted from carrying the entire model on their shoulders. Patients are paying thousands of dollars out of pocket for long appointments they often can’t sustain. And because the system is so top-heavy, functional medicine remains inaccessible to the very people who need it most.

If we want functional medicine to move from a boutique service for the few to a sustainable model for the many, something has to change.

The Missing Link: Where Are the Nurses?

Whenever I sit with this problem, I keep coming back to the same question: why aren’t functional medicine clinics hiring more nurses? And my students are reporting this time and time again. Granted, there is a subset of my RN students that are being utilized extremely effectively in functional and integrative practices, but many RNs are finding that functional practices are looking for yet another prescribing provider to meet the demands of their clinic.

It doesn’t make sense. Nurses have been trained to do exactly the kind of work that functional medicine requires: holistic assessment, patient education, care planning, lifestyle counseling, and follow-up. We know how to listen deeply. We know how to connect patterns across physical, emotional, and social health. We know how to partner with patients for the long haul.

And yet, in many functional practices, RNs aren’t even on the team. The model assumes providers will do it all—and that assumption is breaking the system. Nurses are frequently asking me how we can address this. We know we're the solution, but how do you convince everyone else, lol?!

A Tale of Two Intakes

Let’s make this real.

Imagine a patient walks into a functional medicine practice with fatigue, digestive issues, and blood sugar swings. In the typical model, the provider spends 90 minutes collecting their entire health history, reviewing diet and lifestyle, piecing together root causes, and coaching the patient through changes—all while also being responsible for labs, prescriptions, medical diagnoses, and documentation.

Now imagine that same patient walking into a clinic where a nurse leads the intake. The RN gathers the full story (precisely how patients are "admitted" into hospitals and onboarded into allopathic practices worldwide). They use functional tools like the Matrix and Timeline to map patterns. They educate the patient on basics—meal balance, hydration, stress reduction—while building trust and engagement. By the time the provider steps in, they already have a rich, organized foundation to work from. The provider spends 20 minutes refining, prescribing, and addressing advanced concerns.

The patient gets the same (if not better) depth of care, at a lower cost, with less provider burnout. That’s the power of putting nurses back where we belong.

What Nurses Bring to Functional Medicine

We have to stop pretending this is radical. Nurses have always been the ones trained to:

• Educate: Whether it’s teaching insulin administration or explaining sleep hygiene, nurses are the original health coaches.

• Lead group care: Diabetes classes, prenatal programs, smoking cessation groups—we’ve been leading scalable interventions long before functional medicine made them trendy.

• Provide lifestyle counseling: Nutrition, stress, movement, hydration, rest—these are all squarely within the nursing wheelhouse.

• Build trust: Patients open up to nurses in ways they rarely do with anyone else. That therapeutic relationship is a form of medicine in itself- one that nurses are "born with" and refine in their years of professional education.

This is not support work. This is not “helping out the doctor.” This is licensed, independent nursing practice—and it’s exactly what functional medicine is often missing.

The Accessibility Crisis in Functional Medicine

One of the loudest critiques of functional medicine is that it’s only for the wealthy. And honestly, right now that critique isn’t too far off.

Most clinics run on a high-cost, provider-only model that requires patients to pay out of pocket for long visits. For many families, it’s simply out of reach. And if functional medicine continues this way, it will never make the impact it wholeheartedly hopes to make.

Nurses are the answer to this accessibility crisis. When nurses step in:

• Costs go down because not every touchpoint needs to be with a prescriber.

• Practices can offer group visits or memberships led by nurses, making care more affordable. Did somebody say nurse- elimination diet groups?!

• Patients receive ongoing education and support that helps them stick with changes long-term.

• Providers are freed up to focus on the aspects of care only they can do.

  
  

This is how we scale functional medicine without losing its soul.

Why Nurses, Why Now

The truth is, the healthcare system wasn’t built with nurses at the center. We’ve been framed as assistants, task-doers, order-followers. But functional medicine gives us an opening—a chance to reclaim what nursing was always meant to be: whole-person, root-cause, healing work.

No one is going to hand us this role. Functional medicine clinics aren’t suddenly going to realize they’ve overlooked the obvious solution. It’s up to us to change the narrative. To deeply understand our own scope. To claim our voice. To offer solutions. To show the healthcare world what functional nursing looks like in action.

Because the reality is clear: functional medicine doesn’t just need more providers. It needs nurses.

The Future Belongs to Us

Imagine a future where every functional medicine practice has nurses leading intakes, running groups, and supporting patients between provider visits with education and coaching. Where nurses are recognized not as “the help” but as leaders in care delivery. Where patients can actually access the healing they need without going broke—and where providers can sustain their work without burning out.

That future isn’t far off. In fact, we’re building it right now.

Nurses are not just part of the solution. We are the solution.

Ready to learn more about stepping into this role? Check out the Institute for Functional Nursing's training programs and membership- where we translate functional medicine into the language of nursing in a supportive community of like-minded nursing professionals. Join us!