COMPETENCIES FOR LIFESTYLE MEDICINE PRACTICE

​Lifestyle medicine is the evidence-based therapeutic approach to prevent, treat and reverse lifestyle-related diseases using comprehensive lifestyle intervention including nutrition, physical activity, stress management, sleep health, social relationship, and avoidance of risky substances.  Lifestyle interventions address underlying disease risks, improve clinical outcomes and decrease disease burden.  

The Lifestyle Medicine Competency Course  is an evidence-based education program designed to provide a foundational knowlendge for doctors, allied health professionals, public health enthusiasts, and health coaches who are interested in learning the principles of lifestyle medicine. 
This program follows the recommended foundational approach identified in Journal of American Medical Association to preventing and treating the majority of chronic diseases that are caused by unhealthy lifestyle choices.  The course has modules comprising the 30-hour program covering basic and advanced information on

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES:
At the conclusion, students will be able to:
  • Understand the competencies of lifestyle medicine as identified in "Physician Competencies for Prescribing Lifestyle Medicine" (JAMA. 2010;304(2):202-203).
  • Integrate the competencies into clinical and professional practice
  • Increase efficiency in the delivery of lifestyle medicine intervention, assessment and evidence-based lifestyle prescriptions
  • Have the ability to practice as an interdisciplinary team of health care professionals and support team-based resources for sustainable lifestyle change
BASIC TRAINING CURRICULUM

Leadership
  • Promote healthy behaviors as foundational to treatment, remission and reversal of chronic disease as well as disease prevention, and health promotion
  • Develop leadership culture with emphasis on personal health; practice healthy behaviors and cultivate school, work , and home environments that support healthy behaviors.
Knowledge
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the evidence that specific lifestyle changes that have a positive effect on patients’ health outcomes, including remission of many lifestyle-related diseases.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of Lifestyle Medicine modalities applied for prevention, management, and reversal of some chronic diseases
  • Exemplify ways that physician engagement with patients and families has a positive effect on patients' health behaviors.
Assessment Skills
  • Assess the social, psychological, environmental and biological susceptibilities of patients’ behaviors and the resulting health outcomes
  • Assess patient and family need, confidence, willingness, and capacity to make health behavior changes.
Service Delivery
  • Take a history and physical examination specific to lifestyle-related health status, including lifestyle "vital signs” and obtain appropriate tests to screen, diagnose, and monitor lifestyle-related diseases.
  • Utilize evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to support patients in self-managing their health behaviors and lifestyles.
  • Use if lifestyle medicine practice guidelines for prevention, management and reversal of some chronic diseases, where available.
  • Collaborate with patients with patients and their families to develop achievable, specific, written action plans based on the best current evidence, such as lifestyle prescriptions.
  • Refer patients to other health care professionals as needed for lifestyle-related conditions, including referral to lifestyle medicine specialists.
Systems Support
  • Design an interdisciplinary team of health care professionals and support a team-based approach
  • Apply office systems and practices to support lifestyle medical care including telemedicine, decision support and referral systems.
  • Analyze processes and outcomes to improve quality/effectiveness of lifestyle interventions in individuals and groups of patients using appropriate evaluation tools.
  • Utilize appropriate community referral resources that support the implementation of healthy lifestyles, including smart device apps.
Therapeutic Alliance
  • Establish collaborative relationships with patient and their families to support and sustain behavioral change using evidence-based behavior change methods, tools and follow-up.
  • Work with patients to identify meaningful halth behavior changes consistent with their own vision and values
  • Manage challenges in the process of patient health behavior change with empathy and support.
​The Lifestyle Medicine Competency Course covers content that are critically needed in clinical practice of medicine and public health.
ADVANCED CURRICULUM
  • Nutrition Prescription
  • Physical Activity Prescription
  • Sleep health
  • Social Relationship
  • Stress Management
  • Avoidance of Risky substances
  • Coaching and Behavior change