Person:

Pojednic, Rachele

Purpose Currently, there is no model to integrate the discipline of lifestyle medicine (LM) into undergraduate medical education. Furthermore, there are no guidelines, validated assessment tools, or evaluation or implementation plans in place. Background: The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, two-thirds of disease worldwide will be the result of poor lifestyle choices. Fewer than 50% of US primary care physicians routinely provide specific guidance on nutrition, physical activity, or weight control. Methods: We are establishing a plan to integrate LM into medical school education in collaboration with the investing stakeholders, including medical school deans and students, medical curriculum developers and researchers, medical societies, governing bodies, and policy institutes. Three planning and strategy meetings are being held to address key areas of focus – with a particular interest in nutrition, physical activity, student self-care, and behavior change – to develop specific implementation guidelines and landmarks. Results: After the first two meetings, the proposed areas of focus were determined to be: 1) supporting of deans and key personnel, 2) creation of federal and state policy commitments, 3) use of assessment as a driver of LM, 4) provision of high-quality evidence-based curricular material on an easily navigated site, and 5) engaging student interest. Implementation strategies for each focus area will be addressed in an upcoming planning meeting in early 2015. Conclusion: This initiative is expected to have important public health implications by efficiently promoting the prevention and treatment of non-communicable chronic disease with a scalable and sustainable model to educate physicians in training and practice.

The actual causes of premature adult deaths, the preponderance of noncommunicable chronic diseases, and their associated costs are related to unhealthy behaviors, such as poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and tobacco use. Although recommended as the first line of prevention and management, providers often do not provide behavioral change counseling in their care. Medical education in lifestyle medicine is, therefore, proposed as a necessary intervention to allow all health providers to learn how to effectively and efficiently counsel their patients toward adopting and sustaining healthier behaviors. Lifestyle medicine curricula, including exercise, nutrition, behavioral change, and self-care, have recently evolved in all levels of medical education, together with implementation initiatives like Exercise is Medicine and the Lifestyle Medicine Education (LMEd) Collaborative. The goal of this review is to summarize the existing literature and to provide knowledge and tools to deans, administrators, faculty members, and students interested in pursuing lifestyle medicine training or establishing and improving an LMEd program within their institution.