Last Updated Feb 2011
It is no secret that achieving regular physical activity and good nutrition are key to disease prevention (for example, approximately 40% of all cancers are associated with poor diet, lack of physical activity, and obesity).1 And yet, about 63% of the population in the United States is overweight or obese (BMI ≥25).2
It is also no secret that medical care in the United States is, for the most part, the best care anyone can receive in the world.
Despite all that we know about healthy lifestyles and prevention of injury and disease, the unfortunate truth is that in the United States the medical community’s focus is to treat injury or disease, not to prevent it. I am hopeful that someday the health campaign called Exercise is Medicine3 will drive the medical community to have physical activity and nutrition as part of a patient’s medical record, but it is far from a common concept in most medical offices.
And, sadly enough, even if all health care workers approached the healthy lifestyle topic with their patients, the patient is unlikely to make the necessary behavior changes from just one or two discussions. But, what if at every health care contact a patient experienced the same information regarding healthy weight, nutrition and physical activity? Perhaps the more they hear it, the more likely they are to think about it, and eventually act on it. If they make the choice to take action, they will then know who to turn to for advice, and sound advice it will be (unlike the advice on infomercial ads in the late hours).
If you are in the health care industry, make a choice today to be a preventive health educator/advocate. If you are afraid to offer health education because you are struggling with health issues yourself, recognize that almost everyone has some health risks. We are all works in progress.
Here are some simple and non-threatening ways to bring up preventive health topics with your patients.
· Try this opening statement with a BMI chart in hand: “Since obesity is a national health concern, we are making sure everyone knows their own BMI score. Here is a BMI chart so that you can find the category you are currently in.” A large BMI chart on the wall can also invoke conversation between the patient and health care worker and lead to a conversation around the importance of a healthy weight. Immediately after a weigh-in would be an ideal to bring the subject up.
· Find a registered dietician and exercise physiologist or health professional that you can refer overweight individuals to for sound exercise prescription and nutritional advice. Do some searching and find quality resources, and redirect conversations around fad diets and odd exercise equipment to research-based recommendations for weight loss, physical activity and healthy eating. You may even want to know the contact for your local walking club so you can hand out information if patients are interested.
· Sell or give away good-quality pedometers (and feel free to include your logo!). Consider having other resources for healthy living available for sale in your office, such as a book about pedometer walking, fast-food nutrition guides, or beginning weight-loss programs you can do at home safely (like my book Four Weeks to Fabulous!).
· Recruit a dietician or exercise physiologist to come regularly present a free lunch-and-learn presentation to patients and workers about healthy lifestyles.
· Carry magazines in the waiting room that promote healthy lifestyles such as physical activity, stress management and healthy eating. If your office is able, make specific healthy lifestyle information brochures geared directly toward your population.
· Start a sound weight loss program in your department or office. Weight loss challenges create casual conversations around the challenge. Patients hearing those conversations may ask questions, and they may even recognize that even health care providers struggle with making healthy lifestyle choices.
· Put up posters of healthy foods or calories burned with various activities in the waiting room and in the room where you care for your patient. Posters often invoke non-confrontational conversation around healthy eating and lifestyle improvements, but they also state a campaign message that your organization cares about the lifestyle choices people make. Silicone rubber fat and muscle models are also a good conversation starter.
· Get rid of the candy bowl at the front desk, and instead have fresh apples or small oranges.
· Make arrangements at a local gym for discounted memberships for your patients.
· Sponsor a 5K walk/run in your area. Mention the event to all of your patients. Recruit a team made of your staff and patients. If possible, pick an event centered around a health awareness campaign to create further conversations about healthy lifestyles and chronic disease and injury prevention.
I believe it is the responsibility for all of us in the health care industry to share knowledge about how to stave off cardiovascular illness, cancer, and injuries. Take a stand and begin making healthy lifestyle choices yourself, and then create opportunities to discuss healthy lifestyle choices with your patients.
1. The Harvard Report on Cancer Prevention, Causes of human cancer. Cancer Causes and Control. 1996:7(1)S7-S9.
2. 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/list.asp?cat=OB&yr=2009&qkey=4409&state=All.
3. www.exerciseismedicine.org