We spoke with Jessica Baker who works at a private outpatient clinic in Rockport, Indiana. She sees a variety of patients, including pediatric, post-stroke, post-surgical, athletic, orthopedic, and pain-related patients. Jessica is a graduate of EIM’s Certification in Lifestyle Medicine and in this interview, shares her experience in the program and how she’s transformed her new knowledge and skills into real life care.

• What would you say are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a clinician when it comes to treating patients?
  In general, as I have gotten more experienced as a physical therapist, my biggest challenge is realizing sometimes there is something intangible affecting your patient. When they have been trying different things that­ should be helping, but it’s not necessarily making a difference; I think that’s where lifestyle medicine has really helped me to see different areas which may be impacting my patient. I now have the tools to be able to assess that and determine how I can better help them. That may mean changing my approach a little bit, or even getting a referral to another health care provider.
• What interested you in doing the Lifestyle Medicine Certification?
  I had actually started out studying pharmacy when I was an undergrad and I worked in a pharmacy and realized it wasn’t the side of medicine I wanted to be on. So, through that transition, I realized the physical aspect, getting people moving, is where I wanted to be. I had a coworker send me an email asking if anyone was interested in getting certified and it wasn’t even five seconds, I just responded, “Yes!” with big exclamation. I think I jumped in feet first without even realizing the full magnitude of what I was getting myself into, but I’m glad I did, and I didn’t look back.
• If a colleague asked you, “what is lifestyle medicine?” how would you explain it?
  I’ve had colleagues ask me that! I say it is the different aspects of someone’s life that can impact their health in different ways. It’s not just about being free of illness, but it’s the different lifestyle choices that impact how you function. Looking at your sleep, your nutrition, the way you move, how you use substances, etc., all have an impact on you as a person.

Certification in Lifestyle Medicine

Interested in learning more about how to help your patients move toward a healthier life?

• Learn more about the Certification in Lifestyle Medicine, brought to you in partnership with Purdue University
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• Can you talk a little bit about your experience going through the certification and what kind of activities were you doing in the certification? How were you able to take what you were learning and apply it?
  It was broken up in two segments by week, anywhere from a three-week course to an eight-week course. Within each week, you have videos and lectures that you listen to as well as some required reading, so it was definitely self-paced.
  To be able to take what you learned and apply it, there were discussion boards — sometimes the discussion boards were just reflective, other times you were answering a question. Something I really enjoyed, which EIM is now doing through Canvas, is recording yourself explaining something to a patient. When you’re encouraged to put your ideas into words to talk to a patient versus typing it out, it makes you recognize that in a perfect world when you have time, you’d say the right thing. But actually practicing and having those video recordings helped me learn how to improve. It can be a little scary to watch back, but it was very much a learning opportunity.
  At the end, we would have a wrap up, but each segment tended to lead into the next one. Your base and the knowledge itself kept growing and you were able to implement it right away into your practice with your patients.
• Can you give an example of something you have started doing differently with patients?
  I definitely dive in a little bit deeper on my evaluations. I will get into their sleep habits a little bit heavier, and I always preface it as: “I know this seems to be really in depth for why you’re here, but these are things that affect you on a daily basis, and if it’s affecting you on a daily basis, it’s going to affect how we are able to help progress you through your treatment.” So, it opens them up to things they might have issues with they may not think relates because they’re there for something else. I also talk a little bit about their nutrition.
  I’ve been fortunate that I have good relationships with the primary care physicians here in town and I’ve even expressed that those conversations, like nutrition, are something I’m working on. I want them to understand that I’m talking about it from a wide standpoint of improvement.
  I also hold onto my patients a little bit longer. Instead of feeling finished when their pain is gone, it’s now more about learning what sticks within their lifestyle and helping them maintain those bigger changes.
• Why do you feel like it’s helpful in your community, as small as it is, to have access to this knowledge?
  I would like to think that hopefully we get to the point that we have a reduced utilization of certain health care services, such as the emergency room, and instead bring awareness to what physical therapy can do for people. We see hospitals and primary care offices are overburdened and we can be a resource within the community too, to ask questions or walk them through some of this stuff.
  I think the greatest example that I’ve had is when I had a patient come in that we had seen earlier in the year. We spent a little extra time, and I said let’s really focus on how you can implement this stuff into your daily life. We did that, and he came back afterwards and while he was weak, he stuck to the regimen and knew what he needed to do. I had him come in once a week for three weeks and told him that he gets a gold star because he’d always come back with a little improvement after sticking to it. I would love to be able to be that resource long-term for patients; spend a little extra time with them; get them to understand their body; and understand the different impacts of their life. It’s not always perfect but teaching them how to manage it and manage the ups and downs is something I hope sticks.
• What would you say was something that really surprised you about the evidence presented in the certification?
  I would say the certification solidified that how we live our lives impacts our overall health. At the end of the certification, we did a presentation — it’s about ‘taking it to the streets’ and how you’re going to implement all of the findings. I felt that if it only had changed my life, all of this was worth it, and it certainly had impacted my life as well as my family’s. I explained in the presentation that I have a responsibility to pass this on to others. Especially all the information we went into about chronic diseases and how much inflammation really plays a part in almost everything that’s an ailment; it surprised me. Within lifestyle medicine, there’s a pillar of social connectedness and adverse childhood effects. I recognized that with some of my patients, their issues go back way further than I can necessarily touch.
• What would you say to other health care providers about why having training in lifestyle medicine would be helpful in treating patients?
  Having this background helps patients implement what they’re being told. I would say some of this information I had heard before, but the evidence that they showed us was deeper than that. I also think being able to actually talk someone through their pain and help them understand it is why a lifestyle medicine certification is so helpful. The information is out there, we know their problems, but I have the understanding to connect it. Kind of like the beginning of the new year — everyone wants to go to the gym so they buy a membership, go for a couple of weeks and then it’s like, eh. We have the ability to coach them and instead of just doing that big gesture of buying a gym membership, we’re able to coach them in smaller steps to make that change into a habit. We are the ones that help form habits in the people that know the information, but don’t know how to implement it.

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