Dr Victor Montori, Professor of Medicine, Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, Mayo Clinic.  He is a practicing endocrinologist, health services researcher, author and a recognized expert in evidence-based medicine and shared decision-making. Dr. Montori developed the concept of minimally disruptive medicine and works to advance person-centered care for patients with diabetes and other chronic conditions.

I had the pleasure of hearing Dr Montori from the Mayo Clinic speak as the key note presenter of the Diamantina Health Partners Forum at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane last week.  I had not heard such a fantastic presentation for a long time!  

Dr Montori discussed the key problem is that two of five patients do not follow medical advice.  Why is that?  Often there is a very complicated patient-clinician relationship and often we blame the patient for poor compliance.  Rather than putting the fault on the patient, what can we as health care professionals do differently to improve the uptake of health care advice.

Dr Montori told a story of one of his patients John aged 55.  John is like many of our own patients.  See John’s story below.  

With all of those work-life demands, no wonder John has less capacity to incorporate positive health changes.   The burden of his day to day life prevents incorporation of health demands which also require work to navigate what is being asked of you by health care professionals.

The concept of minimally disruptive healthcare was coined by Dr Montori and colleagues, in which health care delivery needs to be designed in such a way as to reduce the burden of treatment on patients while pursuing patient goals.  Hence, we need to be able to decrease the workload for our patients in order to increase their capacity to pursue healthcare and life goals.   In the words of Dr Montori, “we need to place the smallest possible healthcare footprint on our patients lives”.  What could you do differently to minimise the burden of nutrition advice on your patients?