When the Desire for Lifestyle Medicine Counseling Remains Unfulfilled: A CaseReport

摘要

More and more patients are suffering from multiple concomitant chronic conditions, whichare often associated with an unhealthy lifestyle, including inadequate physical activityand poor nutrition. Patients increasingly seek thorough advice on lifestyle counseling,however, many physicians encounter this development with a pharmacotherapy-centeredstrategy—thereby paying insufficient attention to lifestyle modifications. This casereport attempts to capture the concerning experience of a particular patient, who washospitalized for uncontrolled type-2-diabetes in an American hospital. Despite curiosityand a great interest in lifestyle modifications, his desire for lifestyle medicinecounseling was not addressed during a long inpatient stay. This case illustrates thatpatients wish to make sustainable lifestyle changes but apparently receive insufficientsupport from their physicians. This applies for both, dietary and exercise counseling. Toaddress the patients’ needs and the increasing burden from chronic diseases, physiciansmust practice lifestyle medicine now. Appropriate educational resources for physicians areprovided.