Tribune News Network
Doha
The healthy lifestyle clinics of the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) guide adults aged 18 years and above to lead a healthy lifestyle by offering an integrated wellness programme run by a multidisciplinary team in accordance with evidence-based care.
Healthy lifestyle clinics are available at seven health centres namely Rawdat Al Khail, Leabaib, Umm Salal, Muaither, Al Wajba, Al Khor and Al Ruwais. The general practitioner refers the patient in his registered health centre to these clinics if the patient has a risk factor related to lifestyle such as obesity, smoking, stress or sleep problems, and others.The community medicine physicians who run these clinics are highly qualified in leadership, evaluation and management skills, in addition to receiving the support of the multidisciplinary team.
Dr Sarah Mousa, community medicine specialist and Wellness Centre in-charge at PHCC’s Rawdat Al Khail Health Centre, said that according to international figures, chronic diseases resulting from unhealthy lifestyle choices are the most common root cause of morbidity and mortality, in addition to an increase in ‘disability-adjusted life years (DALYS)’.
Healthy lifestyle clinics focus on improving patients’ health through nutrition, physical activity, healthy sleep, emotional and mental well-being, smoking cessation and weight management.During the first visit, and because health behaviour modification is complex and requires multiple interventions, each patient is comprehensively assessed by identifying the social, behavioural and biological aspects related to the desired health outcome.
In addition, each patient’s readiness and desire for behavioural change is assessed and vital signs related to lifestyle are recorded. The necessary laboratory tests are carried out to study each patient more extensively, which will allow diagnosis and continuous monitoring of health status, such as high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, blood lipid disorders, osteoarthritis, etc. and/or referral of the patient to the appropriate specialty.
All patient medications are also reviewed to give a clear picture of side effects that may be related to lifestyle signs.Dr Sarah also highlighted that patient-centredness and involvement in the treatment plan are key to the success and continuation of positive outcomes, as people are more motivated to change when they believe they can influence the outcome.
She added that this approach aligns with the five-element model recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force, including ‘Assess’ by seeking to understand what patients know about healthy lifestyle behaviour, why it is important to them and their willingness to change, in addition to, the ‘Advise’ component, which covers discussion of health risks and the positive effects of behaviour change and the ‘Agree’ component, which includes setting specific, appropriate, measurable and achievable goals that are time-bound.
She pointed out the approach also includes the element of ‘Assist’, which is to enhance the patient’s participation in every decision and agreement on the treatment plan, and the use the ‘Arrange’ component to determine the next step in either follow-up or collaborative care with a health coach, fitness programme, support clinics or referral to secondary care if warranted.
The lifestyle clinic offers a different way to control risk factors by providing the patient with the basic skills required to effectively change behaviours through multiple consultations and understanding the environment resulting in unhealthy behaviors in order to address the root causes rather than providing a temporary treatment prescription. Dr Sarah explained that caregivers in healthy lifestyle clinics focus on achieving small and realistic changes initially that the focus on one healthy behaviour at a time, adding that there is no doubt that effective communication between the doctor and the patient is the basis for promoting healthy behaviour and an important factor for the success and continuity of treatment adherence.