Abstract
Lifestyle Medicine prescriptions are a foundational component to the practice of Lifestyle Medicine. With expanding technology, prescriptions are moving from single sheets of paper to customizable ongoing feedback that encourages continuous dialogue and feedback between patient and provider.
‘Lifestyle medicine prescriptions must be developed using a detailed lifestyle history, . . .’
The concept of an “evidence-based, achievable, specific written action plan such as a lifestyle prescription” has been part of the lifestyle medicine approach since its early days. Writing lifestyle prescriptions is a core competency for any lifestyle medicine health care provider. 1 Lifestyle medicine prescriptions must be developed using a detailed lifestyle history, written using a SMART (specific, measurable, accountable, realistic, time connected) approach, and applied by giving the patient a concrete action plan that they have with them as they leave the health care interaction. 2 Lifestyle prescriptions have evolved over the 15 years of the lifestyle medicine movement.
First-Generation Prescriptions
First-generation prescriptions are written on a piece of paper—initially long hand, but now days primarily using an electronic medical record—and given to the patient as they leave the office. These types of prescriptions use the SMART approach to supply the patient with a specific action step or steps that the patient feels good about and can practically achieve. Their feasibility and value has been documented in the literature and applied by lifestyle medicine providers for years.
Second-Generation Prescriptions
Second-generation lifestyle medicine prescriptions utilize the benefits of electronic medical records to apply templates and customization to achieve more robust outcomes. A series of prescription templates are populated in the electronic medical record. These are then pulled up for the appropriate patient and customized to meet that patient’s specific needs. They are either printed off or sent to the patient electronically, and can be easily referenced in future encounters. The ease of adapting and prescribing second-generation prescriptions allows additional improvements in health care outcomes.
Third-Generation Prescriptions
Third-generation lifestyle medicine prescriptions utilize modern artificial intelligence and handheld device technology to prescribe a lifestyle medicine goal that adapts to ongoing input from both the patient and the provider. These types of prescriptions are just now becoming available to the lifestyle medicine provider, but offer additional benefits by increasing touch points between the patient and the provider in an automated format. 3 With little additional effort, real-time feedback is provided to the patient and the provider as the patient works through the typical ups and downs of achieving real lifestyle change. Goals are still SMART, but using positive psychology and modern technology, the patient is given even more resources to achieve their desired health.
The idea of a lifestyle prescription has always made sense. As technology has evolved, so has the power of the lifestyle prescription. In the end though, the core of the lifestyle prescription is always a sacred bond between the patient and the provider that assists in achieving disease remission and reversal, and the long-term decreases in morbidity and mortality that our patients deserve.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Ethical Approval
Not applicable, because this article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.
Informed Consent
Not applicable, because this article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.
Trial Registration
Not applicable, because this article does not contain any clinical trials.