A recent Harris Poll survey conducted on behalf of The Samueli Integrative Health Programs included more than 2,000 American adults. The survey showed there are considerable gaps between what primary care physicians discuss with their patients and what those patients would like to discuss with their physician.
The survey found that the discussions which do take place tend to focus on physical well-being and treatments and usually do not address other factors, including social determinants of health. In fact, those discussions of the social determinants of health only took place in less than half of encounters.
Your visit with Peak Health we exist to fill that void and bridge that divide. We assure you. We recognize and place deep value on all of the factors that make up these key aspects of health and well-being. We will place 100% focus on many areas of modifiable lifestyle factors which form the basis of thriving health. We view these factors as the base of a Maslow’s Pyramid. Our metaphor is different, though. We use a tree. And the lifestyle factors form the roots of the tree.
The roots of the Functional Medicine tree are comprised of of the following:
- Sleep & relaxation
- Exercise & movement
- Nutrition
- Stress
- Relationships
We felt so strongly about tree metaphor that we feature it prominently inside our office.
Here are the results from the above poll in terms of frequency these questions were asked in a conventional medical setting:
- Diet 42%
- Sleep 40%
- Mental health 36%
- Personal “why” of being healthy 20%
- Personal environment 13%
- Things that bring joy and happiness 11%
- Spiritual health 10%
As I mentioned in another post here, our new patient on-boarding questionnaire itself will cover many of these topics and you can be assured we will Look Deeper™️ during our comprehensive visit. Here’s a closeup of the tree.
If you are feel you are among those 53% of American adults who wished their doctor would discuss more than just their medical needs (physical symptoms, test results, medications and surgical history) then come find out more and see if we Peak Health can better serve your needs. Let’s take the time to discuss the most important things and find out why you want to be healthy.
Copyright 2019, Peak Health LLC
