By Thalia Kostopoulou DDS,MSc
The relationship between doctor and patient has seen significant changes in modern times.
It has evolved from an authoritative relationship to a more collaborative and participatory one. Patients demand the treatment they need and nothing less, but also the care they want and nothing more.
However, the time usually spent on pure communication is very little. . Research shows that 50% of patients leave the doctor’s office with no clear understanding of their issues. Only 9% out of these cases participate actively in the treatment plan.
Most people remain uninvolved, leaving the responsibility of finding a solution to their own health solely to the doctor. Also, only 9% of those who start treatment change eventually their habits and lifestyle. It therefore seems that minimal patient involvement is not working.
Research shows instead that involved and active in their own health decisions patients are expected to have better treatment outcomes.
This is one of the main reasons Health and Wellness Coaching has officially come to the fore of health care.
More and more world-renowned hospitals in America, Europe, Australia and Asia have incorporated Health Coaching in their services.
Health and wellness coaching is primarily addressed to health professionals.
The role of the Health Coach is to support and facilitate the patient achieve their individual health and well-being goals.
The AMA (American Medical Association) strongly supports the necessity of providing healthcare professionals with Health Coaching skills.
Health Coaches act in the health maintenance and prevention phase, as in the treatment phase, as well. Engaging patients in healthy habits certainly reduces the need for medical assistance but only trained health professionals in the appropriate techniques and strategies can achieve this.
Health Training Coaching helps professionals support their patients, both in their current health issues and preventatively.
A trained health coach not only engages the patient in their health issues effectively but also reduces their own stress and frees some of their valuable time up.
Harvard Medical School formally trains physicians as health and wellness coaches.
In the same manner that a sports coach supports their athlete develop their skills and enhance their performance, a health coach supports individuals improve their health and optimize their lifestyle. The increase in life expectancy makes the need for quality and health into the later stages of our lives imperative. Living long is not enough; we also need to live well!
THE IMPORTANCE OF ASSUMING RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR OWN SELVES
It is important that clinicians recognize and respect the role of patients in managing their own health and assist them in assuming personal responsibility.
The patient may have questions they do not realize or are too embarrassed to ask. It’s the health professional’s duty to come up with answers to the innermost concerns and non-explicit questions
that the patient is reluctant to express, thus building trust with them. This can be achieved by offering them acceptance, avoiding criticism of their condition, and respecting their wishes.
Professionals carry the duty to support and help patients clarify their choices and express their preferences.
Health Coaching aids health professionals process information about their patients, which, combined with their own scientific knowledge, will enable patients to gain better knowledge of their condition, to be aware of the options, risks and treatment possibilities, so that they make decisions more easily, taking responsibility for their own health.
This method results in less patient anxiety, increased treatment commitment and ideal treatment outcome.
Meaningful communication with patients reduces their resistance to change, and makes treatment more bearable. The use of the appropriate coaching techniques by health professionals enables patients process and express their doubts, so that clinicians can provide them with needed answers.
This way, we can help them turn their desires into action and treatment implementation.
In reality, though, most clinicians find it hard to follow this path, mainly because they find it time-consuming and lack the knowledge of properly implementing
it.
HEALTH COACHING TRAINING
This training aims at the familiarization of health professionals with the basic principles of Health Coaching and its real-life application.
Health professionals who have been trained in this approach can teach patients how to learn from their experience, and be responsible for their own health, by inspiring and supporting them.
The therapeutic relationship is then transformed into a process that bears coaching characteristics: mutual trust and respect, and self-responsibility.
This makes their relationship closer and more effective. Self-conscious and involved patients make the clinicians’ job easier, resulting in better treatment. Health professionals with health coaching skills have the ability to deeply impact people’s lives.
They can be trained to inspire people to commit to a healthy lifestyle. This way, they embody the deeper purpose of their role, which is to safeguard health and not just treat illness.
