Evidence for SMAs
Traditionally, medical consultations have been carried out in a 1:1 situation; an ‘expert’ (doctor) consulting with one patient. This has served us well, and still does with injuries and infectious diseases. But the rise in chronic and lifestyle-related diseases has dramatically altered the clinical landscape.
No longer is a short consultation with a doctor sufficient or necessarily appropriate to manage what can amount to complex, lifetime, metabolic, cardiovascular, respiratory and other disorders. In the past, attempts have been made to address this by the development of education sessions (e.g. diabetes education), usually involving one health ‘expert’ and a patient group of say, 10-20 people. But the group education lacks medical input and the 1:1 consultation lacks an education component. Hence another model was still needed.