Which is more important to you; changing behavior to prevent disease or working harder to treat existing disease?
Whether its behavior change or disease prevention, the panel wants to see where you would choose to focus the majority of your efforts. Express your preference clearly, and support your reasoning while also giving the nod to the opposing side.
"Behavior modification is incredibly challenging, and I believe that change is a process, not an event. In many medical studies, we see that change can take six months or more, as humans tend to contemplate change for much longer than is usually necessary. Once someone is aware that there is a problem in their health, it often takes a long time to commit to action and change. For that reason, I would choose to put most of my efforts into treating existing disease and improving the lives of those suffering from illness while, at the same time, working in the background to create change over time. I could do this by educating the patients that I treat and encouraging them to take small steps towards change. In the case of a smoker, for instance, they may be contemplating, 'If I quit smoking, I will reduce the risk of heart disease, but I will also gain weight.' Rather than fighting their thought process, I would encourage them to cut back over time, reducing their commitment to cigarettes just one cigarette at a time."
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Anonymous Answer
Although I believe behavior modifications, such as diet and exercise, are important to maintaining health, I understand that change is hard. Habits can become ingrained over time, and it takes a while to break those bad habits. Also, factors in a patient's life can impact his or her ability to become healthy. For instance, my brother who works the night shift at the hospital is often busy and tired leading him to make bad food choices. Based on the patient's circumstance, I would first treat their existing disease with medications and suggest gradual behavioral changes. I would recommend small changes like adding a few minutes of exercise each day or adding fruits and vegetables to meals. This may make it more likely for patients to adopt lifestyle changes. One office visit will not result in a revolutionary change, but neither will eating one fast food meal suddenly lead to bad health.
Rachelle's Feedback
You bring a thoughtful perspective to this scenario, and it's a great touch to add in the example of your brother to support your stance.
Anonymous Answer
I think that they are both extremely important, but as a PA I would focus more on the diagnosis and treatment of existing illnesses in my patients. Diseases that are currently ongoing in a patient are more pressing and treatable than any future, preventable illnesses that a patient may develop due to unhealthy behaviors. It is very important and useful to educate our patients on living a healthy lifestyle to prevent downstream health deficits, but changing behavior is a very difficult process and is a job that is secondary to the PA's principal job of diagnosing and treating ongoing illnesses.
Marcie's Feedback
This is an excellent answer because it both acknowledges the importance of preventing disease and emphasizes that a PA's main job is to diagnose and treat existing ones. It's balanced and informative. Good job!
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