Challenge
Closing local training gaps
Founded in 2016, the BSLM is promoting the role of Lifestyle Medicine across the globe, providing essential resources for professional development. Lifestyle Medicine is a branch of medicine that aims to prevent and treat lifestyle-related diseases by helping patients improve their nutrition, physical activity levels, sleep, mental well-being, and relationships and manage harmful behaviours and substance use.
“Lifestyle advice has always been part of good practice in modern medicine, but this approach is often neglected in favour of pharmaceutical and surgical interventions,” explains Andrew Howie, chief finance and commercial officer of BSLM. “With lifestyle-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes on the rise, it is becoming increasingly important to create options for sustainable, long-term management and prevention of conditions.”
Recognising the necessity of flexible online learning opportunities to reach health care professionals across the country, BSLM launched its Learning Academy in 2021, with D2L Brightspace as its learning management system. The Learning Academy offers a wide range of evidence-based and clinically rigorous courses for learners, from the basics of lifestyle medicine to advanced modules for specialisation.
Having successfully established the Learning Academy, the organisation is focused on its next initiative: a formal accreditation pathway.
“In the past, healthcare professionals seeking certification in Lifestyle Medicine only had the option for certifications designed based on the US healthcare system” says Andrew. “UK healthcare professionals work with different clinical models, regulations and cultural values. As part of our commitment to transforming healthcare, we knew that an in-depth, UK-specific, accredited certification course was our next step.”
Solution
Designing a robust programme
BSLM consulted with its members, clinical advisors and educational experts to discover learner needs and priorities before designing the new Core Accreditation for Lifestyle Medicine programme.
“We have a very collaborative culture and are keen to ensure that our members have a voice,” says Andrew. “What we learned from our members is that they would prefer more longitudinal learning. There was also a real emphasis on wanting to build applied clinical skills.”
Taking into account member feedback and adult learning best practices, the BSLM Core Accreditation programme was designed with a spiral curriculum structure, creating progressive and continuous skill development. To meet the needs of busy health care professionals, the programme is self-paced, allowing for learning while balancing professional and family commitments.
Boosting engagement
Accredited by the World Lifestyle Medicine Organisation and the European Lifestyle Medicine Council, the Core Accreditation programme offers four pathways tailored to licensed medical doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, individuals in health care–related fields such as Employee Wellbeing, and practitioners who wish to convert other Lifestyle Medicine learning.
The pathway programmes are split into three stages, each concluding with a formal assessment marked by independent assessors. After a learner passes their assessment, the release conditions feature in Brightspace automatically unlocks the next modules to them.
Reflecting up to date evidence in and engaging and readable way for the learners is key to fostering clinical excellence in the practice of Lifestyle Medicine. We aim not only to present this information but to develop learners’ own ability to find and appraise research, and form their own conclusions
Dr Kate Woolley, Learning Academy Director, BSLM
Using the quizzes function in Brightspace, BSLM learners self-check and reinforce their understanding throughout the learning journey. The organisation also uses Creator+ to create dynamic and engaging learning experiences. Interactive features such as flip cards, tabs and image hotspots prompt active participation from learners. At the same time, BSLM encourages learners to apply their knowledge to real-life experiences through case studies and skill-building tasks focusing on patient communication, behaviour change and clinical implementation.
Keeping up with the times
Designed by BSLM members and leading lifestyle medicine specialists, the content of the programme aims to empower users to tailor the evidence-based interventions they learn about to diverse patient needs. For example, the programme maintains a nutrition-agnostic approach.
“We acknowledge that everyone is subject to individual circumstances,” explains Andrew. “Patients who live in areas of deprivation do not have the time or money to go to the farmers market for fresh fruit and vegetables every morning. We show our learners examples of different approaches to nutrition and then let them make their own minds up about what works best for their patients.”
Equally, BSLM built the programme to continuously reflect the latest developments in the world of medicine. Content is regularly updated based on new scientific evidence, policy changes and learner feedback. Using the discussions tool in Brightspace, BSLM encourages learners to share new research or best practices with each other to further maintain high standards of clinical integrity.
“Everybody who has studied with us keeps access to the courses after they’re done, so they can refresh and learn new things from the latest version,” adds Andrew. “We also have regular webinars where we inform people about major changes.”
Results
Unlocking new revenue streams and credibility
Today, the Core Accreditation for Lifestyle Medicine programme is driving changes in the health care sector while unlocking growth for BSLM. Over 1,000 health care professionals have qualified within the first two years, delivering more than 60,000 hours of accredited Lifestyle Medicine learning. BSLM estimates that, as a result, over 3 million patients annually will feel the potential health impact of the training. Following the launch of Core Accreditation, BSLM’s annual conference attendance surged by approximately 335%, reflecting the increased member engagement and BSLM brand recognition.
“Launching our educational offering with D2L Brightspace has been transformational,” comments Andrew. “It has given us improved credibility and reputation. We have been able to grow partnerships with leading organisations that are now keen to engage with us.”
Significantly, BSLM has seen a 46% increase in total income since releasing the Core Accreditation programme and saw a further exponential rise of over 120% the following year, allowing the organisation to grow its internal staff and invest more into new charitable initiatives.
Offering flexible, bespoke and high-quality learning opportunities has been transformational for us. We’ve grown from 800 to over 2,000 members over the past few years and continue to grow by 20% a year, which really shows how much interest there is in lifestyle medicine across the medical community.
Andrew Howie, Chief Finance and Commercial Officer, BSLM
Making a global impact
While designing the UK-specific certification programme, BSLM remained conscious of the necessity for Lifestyle Medicine education access worldwide. Many organisations lack the resources to develop their own certifications. With Brightspace enabling global course accessibility and scalability, BSLM has expanded its programme across Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.
BSLM supports organisations with adapting the programme to the local context and regulatory requirements. For example, the organisation helped the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine develop new modules on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. In many African countries, where health care providers often lack the resources to localise content, BSLM also offers the UK version of the Core Accreditation programme at a heavily discounted cost.
One of the greatest things I’ve achieved in my career is helping other countries with introducing their own version of Core Accreditation. We share best practice learning from our partners around the world to ensure that students wherever they live are benefitting from the lates scientific research. We would not have had the opportunity to make such a big difference at scale without D2L.
Andrew Howie, Chief Finance and Commercial Officer, BSLM
With the confidence gained by launching the Core Accreditation for Lifestyle Medicine programme worldwide, BSLM is now setting its sights on further educational opportunities. Partnering with an academic institution, the organisation is working on creating a master’s degree in lifestyle medicine, offering a new professional advancement pathway within traditional academic structures.
“Brightspace has allowed us to make remarkable strides in getting the lifestyle medicine message out there,” concludes Andrew. “When we educate and empower healthcare professionals, the return for patients is exponential.”