Workplace Wellness: Getting Your Practice in Shape for 2012

Lyndsey: Hi, I'm Lyndsey Coates with Nuesoft's marketing department and this is Nuesoft's Medical Practice Management Podcast Series. Today we have Dr. Moshe Lewis who is a pain management specialist and has successfully implemented a workplace wellness program in his own practice. So we are going to ask him some questions on workplace wellness and how to get that started. 

Hi Dr. Lewis.

Dr. Lewis: Good morning. How are you?

Lyndsey: I'm sure many of us have heard the term about workplace wellness but what does that encompass?

Dr. Lewis: Sure. Well, I think it really involves the employers as well as the employees actively engaging in and doing some types of exercises. And probably a second piece would be making sure that we are looking at ergonomics of it as well.

Lyndsey: OK. So what are some of the benefits of implementing a program then?

Dr. Lewis: Right, well a lot of us say unfortunately we probably spend more time during the day, especially during the weekdays, in the office than we do in the gym or exercising and certainly often even more so than at home.

So it's a good place to try to make sure that we're exercising - getting out of our seats, moving around a little bit, because it's very easy given the stresses of the workplace today to really spend a lot of hours just working and forgetting to look at the clock and get up and move around.

Lyndsey: Are there any financial benefits that you see?

Dr. Lewis: I think there can be. They're somewhat indirect to be fair. But certainly employers are seeing that if their staff is healthier and hopefully eating a little bit healthier and exercising a bit more that they're not really going to the doctors much and also being slowed down. So, it can be an indirect benefit but certainly a healthy staff, we feel, is a productive staff.

Lyndsey: Absolutely. And when we're talking about medical practices who are preaching this stuff on a daily basis it's kind of good to implement that yourself I'm sure.

Dr. Lewis: Exactly, we have our challenges but it's good to not just say it but also do it. Lead by example.

Lyndsey: Absolutely, so what are some things that people working in medical practices can do?

Dr. Lewis: Right, so I think it starts with some of the basics we mentioned. Ergonomically, many times it is pretty inexpensive these days to actually get an ergonomic evaluation.

We're fortunate enough here to have a physical therapist as part of the practice and so going and assessing that people sitting in very comfortable chairs that their eye contact is that 90 degrees, their elbows are at appropriate rest, that they have a foot rest accordingly, and that their keyboard and monitor and heights are appropriate
are certainly a good place to begin.

Because as simple as that may seem or as easily overlooked as it may be, it really is one of the common things I see in my practice - people having repetitive injuries in the elbows shoulders in hands respectively because of bad ergonomics, bad posture.

So grandma always said sit up straight. It starts with that.

Lyndsey: Other than the ergonomics then, how can you get more active from sitting behind a computer screen?

Dr. Lewis: Right, so I think next types of steps are actually getting a little bit more active. So we have software now, very easy apps, they can freeze you out after 15 minutes or 55 minutes and force you to take a break. It should ideally be 10 minutes for every 50 minutes worked. Some people may only do 4, 5 minutes and we all understand that people are on a lot of deadlines and pressure to be productive.

But literally getting away from a computer is important- that you get up, move around, and circulate. That then could go to the next steps of literally going downstairs - just one flight or coming up a flight of stairs and catching the elevator on the second floor if you're in a building that's vertical like that. And then if not something as basic as that then walking around the office.

So even without necessarily going very far that trip to the water cooler can be productive for our heart and getting the metabolism going a little bit.   

Lyndsey: So it should definitely be encouraged by the practice owner, practice manager, walk to lunch if you can. Stuff like that.

Dr. Lewis: Exactly. We think that the employers can lead by example and that that's a very big step for all of us. It's very easy to cheat and not eat as healthy and when you do an exercise activity even something as you pointed out like walking to lunch. It already starts to get your mind thinking about the fact that “gosh I may be doing that to burn more calories, get some good cardiovascular circulation”, but this would also mean that when I'm making my food choices, eating junk food or fast food, I would have to be a little bit more judicious as well.

So the two can sort of go in tandem. The ability to sort of sit at the desk and eat and work through lunch almost brings up a vision of it might not always be healthy food choices are you making.

Lyndsey: How do you get started? How do you get a program implemented and in place so that an employees feel comfortable getting involved?

Dr. Lewis: Right, again I think that it starts with the employer, but many times if that may seem a little bit too complicated it's picking someone on the staff. Sort of doing an informal survey. Let's say at the next staff meeting to say this is something we'd like to implement. We believe in workplace wellness and we'd like to find an employee champion.

And so finding a very nice PC term like that could be a very good way and then literally meeting and interacting with that person wouldn't take a lot of time. Just a few minutes to see what ideas do they have. Do to they want to do something even more aggressive like maybe start a walking group and it can be before office hours or after hours or during lunch. Not always implying it has to interrupt the flow of the work day. But something as simple as that would be a really great step.

Many times each year as it goes by somebody on the staff may be trying to do a fundraiser for various charity organizations. They have walkathons and bikeathons and marathons, and things of that nature.  And that's yet another good way that the staff could form their own group so they represent XYZ organization at the charity. It's good for not only team spirit and morale but also employee morale that they are interacting in an activity.

So those are just some easy, simple, starting off types of approaches that don't require significant funding or equipment.

Here I'm in the Bay Area and some organizations have taken it to that level where they do have classes available in a little bit more organized or they have equipment available. But that really will come further down the road and it's a little bit more involved.

Lyndsey: OK. So are there any drawbacks then?

Dr. Lewis: Sure. Well I think employees always worry about the fact that somebody might get injured or there could be some liability that we were recommending. People to be more active and then all of the sudden somebody slipped and fell down the stairs.

But in reality when you look across the numbers at those types of accidents, slips and falls and things like that would have occurred anywhere. We don't see a tremendous bump. Again very few employers are getting actual exercise equipment and very intense class is going on their premises.

So I do think that if somebody is thinking about an aggressive program, you bring in people who are certified. Many of them will often volunteer just to be able to network and meet the staff.

But the other types of liabilities are just certainly trying to make sure the place is kept well lit and that there aren't a lot of hazards in the work setting which is very easy.  We all deal with a sense many times of being in a setting - work, where we've seen overcrowding, too much equipment, too many things in the way, and if one's trying to have a class or have people be more active, they can hurt themselves so it's just really trying to prevent accidents.

Lyndsey: Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. You've definitely made me want to sit up more straight.

Dr. Lewis: Sure, absolutely. Grandma was right. She had it down.

Lyndsey: Exactly, good posture. Well, thank you so much for joining us today and I hope all of our listeners join us next month.