would like to see if people would bw interested in coaching on health conditions?

[maminova]

Hello, I am currently a pharmacist. I get very frustrated to see that people get more and more medications for conditions such as blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, etc just because they do not understand the condition or because they do not work on lifestyle changes...certain food lower/increase blood pressure, cholesterol, worsen asthma etc....
Wanted to do some workshops where people with the same conditions could share their struggles and where i would explain how to control their condition by lifestyle measure, suggesting menus for example, which do not stop them from enjoying food!....
I also wanted to do one to one coaching to see where people go wrong (weight loss, Blood pressure) and improve their condition...would like to know if you think people would be interested and if so how much they would be ready to pay??
Thank you

we get all that for free on the MN weight loss and health boards

if you charged you would get the worried well, not those who need it
and those who need it get free support from the NHS

Hi

I am a nurse and did some practice nurse work for a while. People should be able to get this kind of info from their practice nurses although I understand this doesn't always happen. Have you heard of the 'Expert Patient' programme? This is for patients with long term health conditions and is usually 6 weeks and made up of people with different conditions rather than everyone with diabetes etc. This might be useful as a template. I think what you are suggesting is a good idea as people can chip in but if you have a health professional overseeing it then they can 'chair'/filter the advice.

Good luck

I think you'd have to be very careful not to alienate people by assuming you know better than them how to handle the daily struggles their lives throw at them.

What could be seen as expertise could also be seen as a failure to really understand people, their motivations and priorities, and could certainly come across negatively.

I have a very complex medical condition which many medics with no relevant experience believe wrongly, can be controlled easily by facile and glib solutions. They fail to understand either the condition appropriately, or that I am an expert at managing my own condition. I've learnt to nod and smile at those people, as they are far too arrogant and entrenched to bother to engage with.

The best people have both been experts at the condition, and respectful of a patients own knowledge and experience. Rather than vaguely remembering something from medical school which has since been overtaken by new research, or believing 'they can do better'.

Most of all, real experts are people who don't assume they know better than the patient from a tiny snapshot of their condition, history or daily lives.

I'd hope you wouldn't be falling into the same trap. Im sure there are real lifestyle and behaviourial changes in these more mainstream conditions. But i do wonder why you think these people dont know what they should be doing, and why you think just telling them to do things differently would have any positive effect... Or reach the people that need it.

It does sound like your perspective is based on a tiny sliver of knowledge - filling peoples prescriptions, without knowing patient medical history, lifestyle, doctors / gp diagnosis or what contact patients have with other sources of management, support or expertise.

If I were you, I'd start by filling in my very limited perspective and then determining whether there is an unfulfilled need for your help, and that you are best placed to engage with the right audience, in the right way to effect a meaningful and genuine change.

I would not start with rushing in telling people where they are going wrong.

HTH.

Oh, also, wasn't there an identical thread to this a couple of weeks ago?

Hi all,
Thanks for your replies. I am taking all on board.
I am not an expert on things, just think that I have helped some people to understand their condition better in the pharmacy. I do think that their condition could be improved, although I am not an expert I hope you can appreciate that pharmacy is a 5 year course so I think I do have some knowledge. However miscellaneous I do understand your point and you are right I do not think people should behave as if they know much better than you when you are the one going through the disease process. Anyway thank you for your opinion .
Nb: it is my first post on this topic by the way

Weird, someone else had a very similar title going a while ago, but when I went back to click on it I couldn't find it, so never read more than the title. Maybe someone else is having the same idea?!

Anyway, just wanted to say that I absolutely know pharmacy is a very skilled profession and sorry if that didn't come across.

It's the seeing a tiny bit of the whole and making an opinion based on that that I was warning against - not based on quslification. Consultants, GPs, physios, nurses, etc etc etc are all perfectly capable of making the same error :)

Random anecdote: I phoned 'my' pharmacist in a panic a couple of weeks ago having been discharged from hospital far too early and she was incredibly helpful. I phoned her rather than attempting to get through to my gp as its such a exhausting battle to try and get to contact a gp and then to have to explain a massive medical history to someone who just wants to get me off the phone... I was too ill to face it. 'My' pharmacist however has only met me once but knows my 'rap sheet' via the massive amounts of repeat prescriptions, and knew I'd been in hospital as I'd sent someone to ask about dressings.

Following her advice helped me avoid another ambulance trip to a&e.

Thanks miscellaneous, it's good to know that we are not completely useless! the problem is that I feel I do not help patients the most I can because if the pressure we get on a daily basis having to meet targets and constantly having to fill prescriptions like robots ... We are sometimes too busy to give proper advice to people and it is just a shame! Anyway would love to retrieve the other thread.... Thanks all

Health and wellness coaching is quite a niche area - I think there is a lot of interest. Do an online search. What you would bring to it is a level of expertise which most health and wellness coaches don't have.

Maybe your promotion could be,

'confused by all the advice about healthy blood pressure, cholesterol etc etc and don't know how to apply health guidelines in your own life? Sign up for 6 sessions of health and wellness coaching to support you as you improve your health and install habits that will keep you healthy for years to come'.

I think that it's a good idea.

Thank u so much skolastica! This is the way I was thinking... However I never would like to sound arrogant or as if I knew it all! I myself do struggle with my weight and manage to keep it down with exercise and " try to have a healthy lifestyle"! I was also thinking of backing it up with a nutritionist course or personal trainer ...

You don't need to sound arrogant - you will be offering to partner people as they establish sensible habits to support good health and longevity.

Neither do you need to 'know it all' - coaching is as much a support system as an area of expertise and you only need to know enough to get people to a certain level, where they can do it by themselves.

Go for it!