Lifestyle medicine group visits help patients manage chronic illnesses

Mass General providers are taking steps to make care more effective, empowering and even enjoyable for patients with chronic conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, anxiety and depression.

In 2019, a small group of providers within the Division of General Internal Medicine (DGIM) met informally with the idea of ​​developing a clinical program that would focus on helping patients make lifestyle changes in areas such as nutrition , stress, exercise and sleep. Since then, the group has grown to include 51 MGHers and is now known as the Healthy Lifestyle Program (HLP).

“The vision of this program is to establish the practice of healthy lifestyle change as the standard of care for the prevention and treatment of chronic disease,” says Jacob Mirsky, MD, HLP Medical Director. “Every day, we are inspiring patients to make evidence-based, individualized, sustainable, healthy lifestyle changes.”

The program hosts frequent virtual lifestyle medicine group visits led by a physician or nurse practitioner along with one of HLP’s health and wellness coaches. These one-hour sessions offer an alternative approach to care, with patients meeting virtually in groups based on similar diagnoses rather than one-on-one with their provider in an office setting.

The first part of each session includes didactic discussions facilitated by a physician or nurse practitioner. Providers educate patients on the connection between healthy lifestyle change and topics such as high blood pressure, diabetes, nutrition, brain care, insomnia, and stress reduction. Patients are encouraged to participate in these discussions and consider how they can implement what they have learned in their daily lives.

The remainder of the session is devoted to individual check-ins for each patient with the provider and one of the program’s health and wellness coaches. Each patient speaks in front of the group about her goals for behavior change and shares the progress she has made. After group visits, patients have the option of scheduling free one-on-one counseling sessions.

“Patients often tell me that group sessions affect not only them, but also their families and friends,” says Anna Baggett, project manager and health and wellness coach at DGIM HLP. “They are bringing the information they learn home and teaching others to create healthy habits.”

Baggett also says the groups provide a dedicated space for patients to learn about health and wellness. With so much misinformation out there about healthy living, it can be hard for them to know the right thing to do.

“The providers in this program are a trusted source,” says Barbara Canada, DGIM HLP program manager. “The magic happens when patients receive information in a way they can understand and feel safe asking questions.”

This environment makes many patients feel part of a larger community; some have even been joining sessions for two years and have achieved more health-related milestones than they ever anticipated.

“Patients love to connect with each other,” says Mirsky. “Especially early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, they were grateful for the opportunity to focus on something positive with people going through similar difficulties. That focus on health rather than disease during our discussions really makes a difference for them.”

Mirsky says providers look forward to group sessions, too. They have more time to spend with patients in this setting and are able to talk about topics they are passionate about.

Looking forward, HLP expects the program to continue to grow on virtual platforms and in underserved communities, with programming specifically for Spanish-speaking patients.

“It has been a pleasure to help build this team from the ground up,” says Canada. “There is so much passion within this show, and that will only help it grow.”

Click here for more information on the Healthy Lifestyle Program.

Source: news.google.com