Employee Wellness Education at the Time of Annual “Employee Physical” Examinations
October was the month for employee physicals for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and for a Home Health Aide (HHA) and Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Training Academy that prepares students for certification exams. In both these situations, my job is to ensure employees are fit to perform their work and ensure they are free of serious contagious illnesses like TB.
The BPs were taken without 5 minutes relaxation time, and many SBP’s were greater than 125. Weights were often high by BMI, reflecting the adult prevalence of obesity (BMI >30) in 2024 in the USA at 40.3% and overweight (BMI 25-30) at 30.7%. This contrasts with the NHANES survey in 1960-1962 among adults aged 20-74, found obesity at 13.4% and overweight at 31.5%.
Both high blood pressure (HBP) and obesity are serious chronic diseases with a high risk for serious future complications. Together, they increase the risk of shared complications.
In the rushed world of primary care, effective problem identification and patient education cannot be assumed. For this reason, I identified or used AI to develop patient education handouts for home BP monitoring, healthy BP targets, Lifestyle as medicine, and self-measurement of waist circumference related to height, which is a better target for a healthy weight (see attachments below).
In addition, staff were aware of the importance of gait belts, but frontline workers had difficulty articulating what they would do if the client (resident) refused. Assisting patients with feeding, brushing teeth, and intimate care is facilitated with the hand-under-hand technique, but this technique can also be used to protect staff from unexpected physical aggression. Attached below are education handouts for these subjects, along with a helpful video.
Depending on the needs of the employee, I will introduce a potential health problem and select some of these handouts for their future perusal. This does not add much time to the process, but it shows employees and students that we are concerned about their wellness.
Should employee wellness be a part of your annual employee health assessments?
1. Technique Checking BP at home https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2643764
2. Obesity in Adults https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2821831
3. Medications for Obesity https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2827949
A gentle inquiry -- is there an annual Employee Wellness Behavioral Health Update? It goes without saying that care of others is too often made at the expense of care for self. Stress management, lifestyle balance, and inquiry around strategies for managing all these things (including the hard conversations about substance use) are also essential benchmarks of employee wellness and opportunities for education.