Conventional vs. Lifestyle medicine

Differences Between Conventional and Lifestyle Medicine

Conventional	Lifestyle
Treats individual risk factors	Treats lifestyle causes
Patient is often passive recipient of care	Patient is active partner in care
Patient is not required to make big changes	Patient is required to make big changes
Treatment is often short term	Treatment is always long term
Responsibility falls mostly on the clinician	Responsibility falls mostly on the patient
Medication is often the “end” treatment	Medication may be needed but as an adjunct to lifestyle change
Emphasis is on diagnosis and prescription	Emphasis is on motivation and compliance
Goal is disease management	Goal is primary, secondary, and tertiary disease prevention
Little consideration of the environment	COnsideration of the environment
Side effects are balanced by the benefits	Side effects are seen as part of the outcome
Referral to other medical specialties	Referral to allied health professionals as well
Doctor generally operates independently on a one-to-one basis	Doctor is coordinator of a team of health professionals

From Egger et al. Lifestyle Medicine. Sydney: McGraw-Hill, 2008: p 4

This page was last modified on January 21, 2016