Lifestyle Medicine Society (LMS), is an operational arm of the Australasian Society for Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM). As such, it is is dedicated to providing unique, evidence-based medical and health programs for the comprehensive management of lifestyle and environmentally related chronic diseases and ailments.
Shared Medical Appointments
Shared Medical Appointments
Meet like-minded men with similar challenges in a supportive group environment.
Shared Medical Appointments
Meet like-minded women with similar challenges in a supportive group environment.
ABOUT SHARED MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS (SMAs)
SMAs are…. ‘Individual medical consultations carried out sequentially in a group with similar concerns, with all listening and contributing.” These fall between a standard one-on-one consultation with a doctor and group education with a health professional as shown below.
Figure 1: Where SMAs fit
SMAs are normally conducted by a doctor and a trained Facilitator (generally Practice Nurse or Allied Health Professional) with individual consultations, but with other patients contributing their experiences to the consultation.
SMAs provide you, the patient with: (a) more time with your doctor (b) peer support from others with the same problem and (c) quicker access to care.
In some cases, several SMAs can be carried out at regular intervals, delivering a structured education program. These are called Programmed Shared Medical Appointments (pSMAs), which are: “… a sequence of SMAs in a semi-structured form providing discrete educational input relating to a specific topic.”
pSMAS IN BODY WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
Weight management is the first pSMA in our stable of chronic ailment management. These allow for a number of SMAs (eg. 6-8) performed over time (eg. 2-6 months), having a doctor conducting individual consultations in all or some sessions, and run in an ‘active learning’ format by an SMA facilitator with extra training in the disease topic. For more information, or to enquire about your medical centre becoming a LMS operative see https://www.lifestylemedicine.org.au or e-mail: admin@lifestylemedcine.org.au.
CURRENT PATIENTS AND FACILITATORS
Once you are enrolled in a program and have acquired a patient or Facilitator log-in password, ‘PATIENT’ or ‘FACILITATOR’ LOGIN at the top right hand corner of this page and continue to ‘SHOW PROGRAMS
TRAINING TO BE A SHARED MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS FACILITATOR
Training, accredited by ASLM to become an SMA Facilitator is available for AHPRA registered Health Professionals working in, or having access to, Accredited Medical Centres. For more information and access to on-line training visit https://www.lifestylemedicine.org.au/shared-medical-appointments-workshop-for-practitioners-and-facilitators
About Us
LMS offers a growing range of programs in lifestyle and environmentally-related chronic ailments for patients and medical practices throughout Australia. This includes current and future programs such as:
- Weight Management – (Current)
- Smoking Cessation – (Current)
- Chronic Pain – (Current)
- Diabetes prevention and Management – (in development)
- Anxiety and Depression – (in development)
These are mostly delivered through a process known as Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs). To find out more about SMAs click on the ‘Shared Medical Appointments’ link at the top of this page.
About the Founders
Dr. Garry Egger
Dr. Garry Egger has qualifications in behavioural biology and epidemiology. He has worked in public, corporate and clinical health for over 4 decades. He is the author of 30 books (including five texts), nearly 200 peer-reviewed scientific and research articles, and numerous popular media articles on health and fitness. He is an Adjunct Professor of Health and Human Sciences at Southern Cross University and an Advisor to the World Health Organisation and several government and corporate bodies in chronic disease prevention. In the 1990s, Dr. Egger initiated the GutBusters men’s waist loss program, the first of its kind in the world. He started training programs for fitness leaders in Australia in 1982, was one of the initiators of the Australian Lifestyle Medicine Association (ALMA) in 2008. He now runs continuing professional development courses in Lifestyle Medicine for doctors and allied health professionals around Australia and the Pacific. Together with Professor John Stevens and Professor John Dixon from the Baker IDI, he began testing the idea of Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs) in Australian Primary Care Centres in 2013 in order to increase efficiencies and outcomes in chronic disease management. Dr. Egger received an Order of Australia Medal for his services to medical education and health promotion in 2012. His recent interests and publications concern the links between lifestyle, obesity, chronic disease, climate change and economic growth.
Professor John Stevens
Professor John Stevens is a health scientist and Associate Professor with Southern Cross University’s School of Health and Human Sciences. John also co-founded the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM). Having worked closely with the world’s leading scientists in the area of Lifestyle Medicine, John is one of Australia’s leading experts in illness prevention and chronic disease management. With over 30 years of experience in health practice, teaching, and research he now specialises in translating complex scientific information into easy to understand knowledge and easy to use skills. His current work focuses on making the science of weight loss and healthier life available and understandable for everyone to use to help make healthier and happier lives.
Martin Dunkerley
Martin Dunkerley has a Bachelor of Science Degree, majoring in psychology and physiology. He has always had a passion for life, health and fitness. In 1997, Martin started Energize Fitness, a small and personal gym, as a way to promote a healthy lifestyle to the community in a fun, unintimidating way. He resurrected the defunct Ladies Sanctuary in 2002, developing it further into a ‘Fitness for Ladies’ which operates under the Body Shape franchise. In 2005, Martin married Elisha Rose, an elite athlete and founder of the Mums That Tri and Everybody Tri programs, and together they created Energize Health Club, again focused on a passion for promoting health to the local community. Looking for new, innovative ways to reach a larger audience, Martin and Elisha started Exercise on Demand in 2014; a website which grants access to a plethora of exercise videos. In 2016, Martin partnered with Dr. Garry Egger and Professor John Stevens, working collectively to progress Dr. Gary Egger’s long-term work. Together they created the Lifestyle Medicine Society, an exciting new platform for providing factual information on healthy lifestyle and diet choices.
RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS FROM THE TEAM
Weight Loss Research
Our program creators have been involved in weight loss and obesity related research and practice for over 25 years. This program distils much of what is known in the scientific literature, and makes it available and understandable for the people who need to use it in the real world.
What follows is a list of scientific publications by our program team, from research we have been involved in related to weight and obesity:
A List of References
- Egger GE and Stevens JA. Gutbusters 3rd edition. Allen and Unwin Sydney 2016.
- Egger G, Binns A, Rossner S. (Eds)Lifestyle Medicine: Managing disease of lifestyle in the 21st Century(2e) McGraw-Hill, Sydney, 2011
- Egger G, Spark R, Donovan RJ. Health Promotion: Strategies and Methods. McGraw-Hill, Sydney, (4th Ed); 2013.
- Egger G, Swinburn B. Planet Obesity: How we are eating ourselves and the planet to death. Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 2011
- Egger G, Swinburn B. Prevention in Adults. In: Bray G, Bouchard C, (Eds), Handbook of Obesity,: Volume 2: Clinical Applications. 4th Edition; NY; Marcel Dekker Inc (2014).
- Swinburn B, Egger G Influence of obesity-producing environments In: Bray G, Bouchard C, (Eds),Handbook of Obesity,: Clinical Applications. 2nd Edition; NY; Marcel Dekker Inc (2012).
- Egger G, and Stanton R. The GutBuster Waist Loss Guide for Men. Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1993 (2nd Edition, 1998)
- Dixon J, Egger G. A narrow view of optimal weight for health generates the obesity paradox. (Invited Editorial) Am J Clin Nutr (in press; 2014)
- Egger G., Dixon J. Beyond obesity and lifestyle: A review of 21st Century chronic disease determinants. BioMed Res Int 2014, Article ID 731685, http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/731685
- Dixon JB, Egger G, Finkelstein EA, Kraj J, Lambert GW. “Obesity paradox” misunderstands the biology of optimal weight throughout the life cycle.Int J Obes 201415 April 2014; doi: 10.1038/ijo.2014.59
- Egger G. Shining a ‘spotlight’ on obesity (Editorial). Obes Facts (Eur J Obes) 2012;5:288–292.
ABOUT ASLM
ASLM advocates for Lifestyle Medicine and provides representation, education, training and support for doctors, allied health practitioners, public health professionals, researchers, and educators in their practice of Lifestyle Medicine. ASLM is also an active member of a cohesive and collaborative global Lifestyle Medicine movement.
