Powerful ways to incorporate self-management (support) into your daily practice
Self-control, taking initiative, and asking for help when needed. A collection of terms that I would like to apply to my own life, yet it is actually a grasp of the thoughts expressed by healthcare providers when thinking about the topic ‘Self-management’: the theme of Luscii’s Sharing Session of last month. We met online with a group of healthcare professionals using Luscii, an expert in the topic of self-management, and a few Lusciians to get to the core of this topic.
Drawing up the self-management definition
Before diving into the topic, we worked on the definition of self-management, to be sure that all were on the same page. We all know popular sayings like ‘the patient should take the lead’, but how do we put this into practice? We invited Jeanny Engels, an expert in self-management. Together with her we defined the concepts self-management and self-management support. The self-management definition entails finding ways to fit the chronic condition into the daily life of the patient for an optimal quality of life. The patient chooses to what extent they want to take the lead and the way care is given.
The question behind the question
The patient can only take the lead if they want to do it and know how to do it. What you can do as a healthcare provider, is to work together with the people with a chronic condition and their network to help them live their optimal life. A very important starting point is to get to know your patient. Once you’ve discovered what really matters to the patient, what the network around the patient looks like, whether the patient is open to changing and understands why it is valuable to work on self-management, you can get to the point of supporting the patient in their journey. Of course, every patient has their own preferences. Did you know that 30% of patients with a chronic disease only followed little education? Paying attention to this helps tailoring your support to the patient’s needs.
The importance of self-management support became evident during the session: healthcare providers rated it between 7 and 10 on a scale from 1 to 10. However, practicing self-management support can still be a challenge — and that’s okay. What are your skills in finding out what the pain points are for the patient? How to get to the question behind the question? What I would say is that practice makes perfect — and hopefully the tools below can help you into the right direction.
How Luscii aims to support self-management
A lot of different tools exist that support self-management. Key here is that patients should be able to manage these tools on their own. At Luscii, we also strive to support self-management of patients. During the Sharing Session, Luscii’s dr. Jelle Homans took us along to the way we’ve incorporated this in the Luscii app. We’ve built this on four pillars:
- Self help: healthcare providers can add tailored, personalised information to the self help tab in the patients app;
- Education: the educational modules can be used as interactive lessons, providing knowledge to the patient;
- Coaching: one way to provide coaching is through sending messages, which can be automated when passing certain thresholds;
- Information: existing information such as web pages or flyers can be made available in the information section of the app.
Self-management experience in practice
Several hospitals that work with Luscii already have self-management programs in place. Marleen Joxhorst, specialized nurse at the Isala hospital, joined the session and shared her experiences. The goal of their COPD program is to put the patient in the lead when their health situation worsens. This is facilitated by giving the patient the right tools to do so. First, the patient is actively monitored for about a year. In addition, the team helps the patient to develop their personal Lung Attack Action Plan which is also added to the self care section of the Luscii app. After this year they are transferred to the self-management protocol. The protocol is fully automated: alerts don’t go to the healthcare provider, but the patient receives automated messages with advice. As a result, the patient knows better which action to take in which situation and is more self-sufficient in handling their disease. A big step into the direction of self-management, I would say.
Now, what can I do to support self-management today?
Supporting self-management may ask a different view and approach. I’ve drafted a brief list of actions you can take at your next appointment already:
- Take the patient along in the preparation of an appointment
- Ask the patient: what do you want to discuss during this appointment?
- Help the patient build trust in their own capabilities
- Set personal goals and help the patient to reach them
- Build an equal partnership
- Apply techniques and tools (for example the Luscii app ;) )
Let’s go on this journey of supporting patients to live the best version of their lives, together. Because alone you go quicker, but together we get further.
About this article and the author
This article was written by Roxanne Nieverveld. Roxanne joined Luscii in the middle of the first COVID wave last year. Before joining Luscii, she did a healthcare traineeship in which she worked at an elderly care organisation and a hospital. At Luscii, everything that drives her comes together in making impact for patients and healthcare professionals on a daily basis. Also she enjoys to facilitate knowledge sharing among care professionals working with Luscii. In Luscii’s Medium publication people working at Luscii share their experiences on creating a company that is not only successful from a business point, but also creates sustainable societal impact and strives to be a really great place to work and grow for individuals. More on Luscii can be found by clicking here.
