Primary care physicians today face the enormous task of trying to fit a multidisciplinary approach to medical care into a relatively narrow time frame. The average time allotted for a physician consultation is 15 minutes.
Depending on the skill of the support staff, much of this time is devoted to collecting vital signs and medical history, leaving little time for anything other than a problem-focused visit. Counseling patients on complex topics such as healthy eating and smart exercise is often not possible. Managing premorbid conditions such as Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity, and Hyperlipidemia can be even more challenging within this context.
Physicians who often have nutrition and fitness expertise are unable to spend the necessary time to fully educate a patient and design a plan of action to help these patients. A referral to a dietitian often provides some basic information, but little substantial follow up and minimal results. Fitness instructors can work wonders and are highly recommended but are costly and lack the appropriate medical training to fully manage an individual’s care. This fragmented system we have in place is not conducive to reversing the rising trends in Obesity and Diabetes and their associated co-morbid conditions such as Hypertension and Heart Disease.
Our Goals
The premise of the Lamkin Clinic is providing education and guidance within a system that comprehensively evaluates an individual’s lifestyle and other associated risk factors. The goals of our approach are to identify problem areas and actively eliminate those risks within a relatively short period, typically a year or less, benefitting both the referring physician and the patient.
When you come to the Lamkin Clinic, you will see improvements in areas such as fitness, better blood pressure, enhanced glycemic control, lower inflammation, improved nutrition and a lower risk for common diseases as you age. Those currently taking medications will require less over time and will lower their out of pocket costs for medications for conditions such as Diabetes, Hypertension, or Hyperlipidemia. Symptoms associated with insomnia, sleep apnea, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and even depression and anxiety can be improved, again reducing the need for medical intervention.
The referring doctor will enjoy less complicated management of the previously mentioned conditions and perhaps the ability to reduce or eliminate certain medications. The Lamkin Clinic does not seek to manage these patients medically, but to augment or complement the care that the busy physician is already providing. For those patients without diagnoses such as these, but perhaps “borderline conditions” or risk factors such as being overweight, our goals will be to help reverse their condition and prevent the transition into a condition that requires medical management.
While under our care, a foundation of nutrition knowledge will be built upon over 8 to 12 months. Changing dietary habits and practices are essential to long term health. Next, over the ensuing 8 to 12 months, several points of focus will be addressed and monitored. Continued guidance will be provided during the program until health goals are achieved. Some of these goals may be improving blood lipids or reducing inflammatory markers like HS-CRP. Others may be the reversal of abnormal nutritional markers such as elevated Homocysteine or low 25 OH Vitamin D levels. Still, others may be lowering body fat percentage or increasing aerobic capacity. Some will achieve success rather quickly while others may need close attention over a more extended period. No preexisting condition will exclude an individual from participating as improvement in overall health and quality of life can be achieved by most. The fact that the individual will be held accountable for their success on the program is of equal importance. Identifying a lack of focus, effort, or inconsistency will be addressed delicately at each patient encounter. We realize that every individual is different and that conditions such as obesity are multifactorial. The Lamkin Clinic emphasizes personalization of every program and will customize and readjust goals as necessary.
What Physicians Can Expect
We take our physician referrals very seriously and believe it is important to keep close communication between practitioners for the betterment of patient care. As such, a thorough and legible progress note along with pertinent labs, will be sent to the referring physician after each encounter with the referred patient. Additionally, we welcome personal calls of inquiry into any aspect of the care we provide. For further information, call us directly at (405) 285-4762 or contact us via email.