Lifestyle Coaching

[yummygummy]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

-

 

[TexasTriathlete]

What is it? Do you need to be taught an alternative lifestyle? Or are you talking about health, nutrition, etc?


There are some patient populations that are very non-compliant, and you're wasting your breath trying to coach them in their lifestyle. My point of view on this is a little biased, because this is the patient population that I am familiar with, both at my job at home, and where I am now for my summer research gig.

Also, as a personal trainer, trying to get people to change their lifestyle was often like pulling teeth. When it worked, it worked like a charm, but these are people I saw 3-4x/week, and was able to keep them a little more accountable. As a physician, how often do you see these people? Not often enough to have that accountability. You can preach this **** until you're blue in the face, but its going to be up to them in the end.

 

[Mochajonz]

I think that lifestyle coaching should be an integral part of any physician's practice.

You can actually bill for it as a consultation. Whether patients do what you ask them to do is up to them, but as a physician you should always give them the information.

Like TT I worked as a trainer and constantly got on my clients about lifestyle changes. Some made the changes right away, others took 2 years to do everything I asked them to.

If physicians are educated enough about lifestyle coaching you can eventually get through to people even if its not as quickly as you'd like.

 

[GH253]

Despite the undeniable importance of lifestyle, I've always thought lifestyle coaching is an exercise in futility. Lifestyle is primarily a behavioral issue. If a patient has the motivation and discipline to change his lifestyle, he doesn't need coaching. And if he doesn't have the motivation and discipline, coaching isn't going to accomplish anything. The majority of people who lose weight and make lifestyle changes do so without coaching or support of any kind. Furthermore, given the current state of things, I would be extremely apprehensive about trusting the medical community to be the purveryors of lifestyle, as they would probably be more prone to give bad advice than good. Look at how many physicians are overweight! Most doctors know nothing about nutrition or exercise.

 

[facetguy]

Despite the undeniable importance of lifestyle, I've always thought lifestyle coaching is an exercise in futility. Lifestyle is primarily a behavioral issue. If a patient has the motivation and discipline to change his lifestyle, he doesn't need coaching. And if he doesn't have the motivation and discipline, coaching isn't going to accomplish anything. The majority of people who lose weight and make lifestyle changes do so without coaching or support of any kind. Furthermore, given the current state of things, I would be extremely apprehensive about trusting the medical community to be the purveryors of lifestyle, as they would probably be more prone to give bad advice than good. Look at how many physicians are overweight! Most doctors know nothing about nutrition or exercise.

I agree with some of what you are saying. I think, however, that to change someone's behavior, you have to first change their beliefs. This requires educating them about the consequences of their lifestyle choices. And not just restricting the conversation to whether something will cause some weight gain or weight loss. We need to think more broadly about how lifestyle choices impact our overall health. The downside is that this education process requires time and at least some knowledge in the area.