Background for Divisions
Prevention, early intervention and chronic disease management are priority areas in the new national quality and performance system for Divisions of General Practice. Lifestyle Prescriptions encourages general practice to focus on these priority areas by promoting and supporting positive lifestyle behaviour change in their patients.
Lifestyle Prescriptions (or Lifescripts) aims to build on current preventive activities being undertaken in the primary health care system. Lifescripts provides general practice with tools to assist patients to make healthier lifestyle choices. Lifescripts builds on work undertaken on the SNAP risk factors (Smoking, Nutrition, Alcohol and Physical activity) and adds weight management as an additional risk factor.
Lifescripts provides a framework for GPs, Practice Nurses and staff in the general practice setting to bring lifestyle risk factors to the fore in their engagement with patients. Implementing Lifescripts involves: discussing risk factors with patients, setting lifestyle change goals, providing written lifestyle prescriptions, organising ongoing review of lifestyle risk factors, and referring patients to other services that support healthy lifestyle choices.
In 2004 the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing commissioned a consortium to produce a range of Lifestyle Prescription resources. The consortium comprised the Victorian Council on Fitness and General Health (VICFIT); the Centre for General Practice Integration Studies, University of NSW; the National Heart Foundation of Australia (NSW Division); School of Health Sciences, University of Newcastle; Department of General Practice, Flinders University; and Southcity GP Services.
The resources developed include:
(*Including versions designed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients).
Introductory Power Point presentation
The Lifescripts consortium also developed a presentation to assist in introducing Lifescripts to Divisions and general practice. This can be found in the Lifescripts Resource Library or by clicking this link.
