In April, we had a blog titled, “Are you getting the right care during the pandemic?”. This past week there was an op-ed in the New York Times by Sandeep Jauhar that has me thinking.....
The title of his op-ed was “People Have Stopped Going To The Doctor. Most Seem Fine.” His opening question was "Do Americans need the amount of treatment that our healthcare system is providing?"
I read the opinion carefully and respectfully and will emphasize right at the start here that if there is any doubt someone needs to utilize healthcare services for any reason, it is best to err on the conservative side and seek professional medical care. Getting proper and regular medical care is important, but how do you know the right amount.
As a health and wellness coach, I was intrigued because I work with clients to optimize the body, mind, spirit connection to maximize their health outcomes and wondered if the current pandemic would provide any lessons about all of this. As we all know, routine elective procedures were postponed, routine follow-up care with our physicians has been delayed or provided by telehealth and many people ignored symptoms and postponed getting attention. Of great interest to me was a survey that noted only one in 10 patients with a stable chronic disease had worsened during this pandemic.
However, it is important to note, as Mr. Jauhar notes in his article, that many patients had terrible consequences with this delay in care such as those with a new cancer diagnosis or those with serious symptoms delaying getting to an ER for fear of contracting COVID-19. As a result, there was a spike in deaths, especially in the metropolitan area here in New York.
Did most people stay relatively healthy during this time because they were practicing better habits, like exercising more, eating healthy, or quitting smoking? Was it because, in an emergency, we have laser focus on what is important and we let go of routine daily pressures? Was it because we were spending more time with family and this kept us happier and healthier? It could be many reasons and we may not be able to understand all of what has happened during this pandemic for years.
Mr. Jauhar continues in the article about the possibility of a healthcare system that prescribes some unnecessary care and how that might be addressed. Here is the link to that very interesting article. https://nyti.ms/2VCXa7Z
What struck me about this article was another possibility. What if, during this pandemic time, people were able to tap into their abilities to care better for their health and wellbeing? Did the power of our minds and the focus on making sure they didn't get COVID-19 positively affect their health & wellbeing?
This speaks to my belief in the need for a holistic approach to healthcare. I am very proud of being a nurse and of our healthcare system with all of the research and advancements, we have at our disposal. I do think we could enhance our healthcare system and physician practices by utilizing health coaching in the care model. Some physician practices believe in this model and it is quite effective. Physicians are experts in diagnosing and treating patients. Health coaches can be an extremely effective partner to the physician model. They provide a partnership with the patient, who may be having a difficult time understanding their disease, how to accomplish the prescribed treatment, and what lifestyle tools they can utilize to have good health and wellbeing outcomes. Health is not just about the lack of disease or symptoms rather it is about how well we function and how we think and feel.
It could be so interesting to see if the focus of preventing COVID-19 and employing habits that improve our health and immune system are improving the abilities of people to maximize their health outcomes. Could it be that we can finally admit that the mind and body are one and that this has a great effect on our health? So, the question is, can we start addressing emotional/mental health along with physical health? This is what a health & wellness coach does and I believe that a combination of good medical care combined with good emotional and mental care is key to both improving our health care system and our health outcomes.