Posted on
February 1, 2024
The Value of a Health Coach On a Collaborative Care Team: Written by Sandra Scheinbaum, Ph.D., IFMCP
Why Have a Health Coach?
Coaches bridge the gap between your recommendations and carrying them out.
“A coach inspires passion and purpose in others.”Fredrick Hudson, Hudson Institute of Coaching
Your Patients’ Personal Cheerleader
7 Ways that a Functional Medicine Health Coach Supports Patients
- Listen to their story
- Identifies and adds character strengths to their story
- Asks questions to identify meaning and purpose
- Addresses lifestyle factors
- Resolves ambivalence and establishes realistic goals
- Facilitates problem- solving and self- management
- Provides emotional support
Five Ways Health Coaching Helps Primary Care Providers support Patients
- Ensures that patients understand plan of care
- Increases patient trust in your practice
- Improved chronic disease
- Coaching Improves Physical and Emotional Health (Cook et. al., 2017)
- “Health and Wellness Coaching (HWC) is now a respected discipline … and HWC for patients with chronic conditions has demonstrated the potential to positively change behaviors and health outcomes.” (Boehmer et. al., 2019)
- Obstacles to Patient-Initiated Healthcare; Potential for confusion, Lifestyle changes hard to initiate and sustain
References:
Cook, A. & Scheinbaum, S, Functional Medicine Health Coaching: A Path to Improving Patient Health. Poster Presentation at Stanford Medicine X, April, 2017.
Boehmer, K, et al., (2019). Capacity Coaching: A New Strategy for Coaching
Patients Living with Multimorbidity and Organizing their Care. Mayo Clin Proc. 94(2):278-286.