{"id":24303,"date":"2019-08-23T14:25:55","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T14:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medgoo.com\/?p=24303"},"modified":"2019-08-23T14:26:01","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T14:26:01","slug":"conversations-on-self-care-part-ii-opening-the-physician-patient-discussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/23\/conversations-on-self-care-part-ii-opening-the-physician-patient-discussion\/","title":{"rendered":"Conversations on Self-Care Part II: Opening the Physician\/Patient Discussion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Physicians and patients agree that self-care is important to health and wellbeing, yet 75 percent of patients say they haven\u2019t discussed self-care with their physician within the last two years. That\u2019s according to a new survey released in July 2019, conducted by <a href=\"https:\/\/drwaynejonas.com\/self-care-survey-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"The Harris Poll on behalf of Samueli Integrative Health Programs (opens in a new tab)\">The Harris Poll on behalf of Samueli Integrative Health Programs<\/a>.<sup>(1) <\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the survey, two contradictory facts fuel the\nlack of self-care conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Nearly half of the doctors (46 percent) say patients do not\nseem interested in the topic. <\/li><li>The majority of patients (72 percent) say they are interested\nin discussing self-care with their healthcare provider. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In his final analysis of the\nsurvey, Wayne Jonas, MD, Executive Director of Samueli Integrative Health\nPrograms, practicing family physician, and Professor of Medicine at Georgetown\nUniversity and The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences,\nsuggests five ways physicians can help break down the barriers that prevent\nconversations with patients about self-care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. If you think a patient isn\u2019t\ninterested in hearing about nutrition or exercise, trust the stats: 72 percent <em>are<\/em> interested. And we know it\u2019s a\ndiscussion you, too, want to have! The survey says that 93 percent of\nphysicians want to give their patients more info about self-care, and 97\npercent of physicians feel their patients would benefit from a better\nunderstanding of self-care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. Lack of time during patient visits, cited by 78 percent of physicians, is a major obstacle when it comes to discussing self-care \u2013 even though everyone knows how much you want to have that conversation! To work around this, Dr. Jonas suggests using tools such as the<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs MyStory: Personal Health Inventory (PHI) (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/PATIENTCENTEREDCARE\/resources\/personal-health-inventory.asp\" target=\"_blank\"> U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs MyStory: Personal Health Inventory (PHI)<\/a>,<sup>(2) <\/sup>a first step to help you start a conversation about self-care with a patient. You might also look into the tool Dr. Jonas created and offers for free on his website. It\u2019s called the <a href=\"https:\/\/drwaynejonas.com\/resources-old\/hope-note\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"HOPE  (opens in a new tab)\">HOPE <\/a>note, a tool to help gather patient information that goes beyond regular medical visit issues.<sup>(3)<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no question that time is a crucial\nfactor when it comes to delivering good quality healthcare,\u201d says Dr. Jonas.\n\u201cAnd one path to better patient outcomes and lower costs is to increase\nreferrals.\u201d That does <em>not<\/em> mean you\nneed to be a certified yoga instructor, a Doctor of Psychology, or know how to whip up\nnutritional meals. What that does mean is that you need trusted, verified\nexperts on speed dial. Or, if possible, expand your staff to include health\ncoaches and medical teams that can take over behavior modification and\nself-care education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3. \u201cOne of the biggest things doctors talk about is the administrative burdens placed on them that are nonmedical in nature,\u201d says Dr. Jonas. According to the Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2018,<sup>(4) <\/sup>an annual report that looks at U.S. physician compensation and other work environment factors, nearly a third of physicians say they spend 20 hours or more a week on paperwork and administrative tasks. Beyond increasing administrative staff, you can check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/edhub.ama-assn.org\/steps-forward\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"American Medical Association\u2019s STEPS Forward (opens in a new tab)\">American Medical Association\u2019s STEPS Forward<\/a>,<sup>(5) <\/sup>an open-access platform featuring more than 50 modules that offer actionable, expert-driven strategies and insights supported by practical resources and tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>4. One of the quickest, healthiest,\nand smartest ways to ensure that you\u2019re there for your patients\u2019 self-care\nneeds and questions is to take care of yourself. The Samueli Integrative Health Programs self-care\nsurvey says that 50 percent of physicians report symptoms of burnout.\n\u201cSelf-care can address that,\u201d stresses Dr. Jonas. \u201cHere\u2019s a bonus for both\nphysician and patient. Doctors who engage in healthy self-care not only lower\nrisk of burnout but they also tend to engage more in self-care talk with their\npatients.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>5. The final barrier to discussing\nself-care with patients is pretty cut \u2018n dry: some physicians just aren\u2019t into\nchatting about self-care. In fact, only 38 percent of physicians feel \u201cvery\ncomfortable\u201d talking with patients about how self-care affects life goals. You\ncould consider ongoing professional development classes and continuing\neducation courses that deal with communication skills. Or, you could go back\nand re-read points 2 and 3. Call in the cavalry! Get extra help! Build your\ntrusted list of referrals! But don\u2019t increase risk of burnout by piling uncomfortable\nresponsibilities on your plate\u2026not when there are experts out there who can\nhelp you out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bottom line, barriers that might\nprevent discussions about self-care with your patients are largely manageable \u2013\nwith tools and experts available to make discussing the topic easier, more\neffective, and less costly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/16\/conversations-on-self-care-the-physician-patient-disconnect\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"To review last week\u2019s feature on physician-patient self-care perspectives, check out Conversations on Self-Care: The Physician\/Patient Disconnect (opens in a new tab)\">To review last week\u2019s feature on physician-patient self-care perspectives, check out Conversations on Self-Care: The Physician\/Patient Disconnect<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Resources <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1) <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Why is Self-Care So Important for Health? (2019, August 08). (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/drwaynejonas.com\/self-care-survey-2019\/ \" target=\"_blank\">Why is Self-Care So Important for Health? (2019, August 08).<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2) <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"US Department of Veterans Affairs, &amp; Veterans Health Administration. (2014, June 11). Whole Health For Life. (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/PATIENTCENTEREDCARE\/resources\/personal-health-inventory.asp\" target=\"_blank\">US Department of Veterans Affairs, &amp; Veterans Health Administration. (2014, June 11). Whole Health For Life.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3) <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Hope Note. (n.d.). (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/drwaynejonas.com\/resources-old\/hope-note\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hope Note. (n.d.).<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>4)  <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Kane, L. (2018, April 11). Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2018.  (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medscape.com\/slideshow\/2018-compensation-overview-6009667 \" target=\"_blank\">Kane, L. (2018, April 11). Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2018. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>5) <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Real-world solutions to enhance clinical practice effectiveness. (n.d.).  (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/edhub.ama-assn.org\/steps-forward\" target=\"_blank\">Real-world solutions to enhance clinical practice effectiveness. (n.d.). <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Physicians and patients agree that self-care is important to health and wellbeing, yet 75 percent of patients say they haven\u2019t discussed self-care with their physician within the last two years. That\u2019s according to a new survey released in July 2019, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Samueli Integrative Health Programs.(1) According to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medgoo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}