Our Patient Story
How does the THRUST programme help manage your hypertension?
Hypertension is prevalent and increasing in many developing and developed countries. In 2017, there were 6292 deaths from cardiovascular diseases in Singapore (30.1% of all deaths). Prevention is key and primary care is poised to play a key role. The THRUST programme provides a systematic wellness to health approach. This is made possible with empowerment, in-person and virtual care by a multi-disciplinary team consisting of primary care doctors, nutritionists, and health coaches. This aims to achieve better clinical outcomes by emphasizing on whole person longitudinal care.
A little something about the doctor herself
Director of Bedok Medical Centre, Dr Elaine Chua has been a GP since 2009. She views each patient as unique, and worthy of long term and holistic care given in the context of their interests, their family, their work and their future. Her clinic was one of the first that joined the THRUST programme 2021 and has since been helping patients who are determined to see the change in their life.
Dr Chua had referred Andrew to the THRUST programme to help manage his hypertension and diabetes. Andrew wishes to share and inspire others through his personal experience of the programme.
“My condition was not well controlled as a result of a combination of factors. I have a hectic work schedule and did not like exercising. My hobby is to binge watch Korean drama. I love good food and cannot resist my favourite dishes like char kway teow, nasi briyani and laksa. I also love sweet deserts like tau suan and ice-cream.”
- Andrew, 33 year-old patient that weighed 104kg
Developing diabetes at the age of 33, Dr Chua advised Andrew that in addition to medications, he also required lifestyle changes to control his hypertension, weight and diabetes. This was required to prevent the development of further chronic diseases.
The THRUST programme utilized a Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) approach to help Andrew make small, smart daily choices. As a relatively young patient, the MDT found him suitable to participate in a more intensive program. The health coach focused on educating Andrew on exercise strategies and the nutritionist on better diet choices. Through close monitoring, the MDT tracked his progress and made small changes to his daily choices.
Mobile app provides food logging functions for users to log down their daily food intake in seamless entries.
In a preview of the patient’s app, the WitzGO app provides food logging functions for the ease of users to log down their daily food intake in seamless entries. It is designed with a calendar view for easy search and journal-like flow of all food entries.
Andrew's initial diet consisted mostly of hawker and occasional home cooked meals. At the time of joining the program, his HbA1c was 8.8%, which was in the unacceptable range. With the team's guidance, he was able to shift his meal composition towards the ideal “Healthy Plate” proposed by the Health Promotion Board. He was taught to reduce the sodium content and proportion of carbohydrates in his meals as well as improving the quality of the type of carbohydrates that he was consuming. The team was also able to remotely monitor his blood sugar levels daily during any adjustments, aiming to balance weight loss while preventing hypoglycemic episodes. Andrew gradually incorporated more vegetables, fruits and protein in his diet, allowing him to lower the overall glycemic index of his meals.
WitzConnect
- DASH Diet Scoring
Life -long approach to healthy eating!
DASH is used to guide patients to improve their health and lower the blood pressure.
Our CARE team emphasizes on the right portion sizes, variety of food and nutrients.
Diet change during a short period of 3 months
DASH Scoring for Andrew’s diet
Empowered by the WitzGO app, he began his daily monitoring, receiving alerts and reminders where appropriate
Patient self-monitoring via an app
Andrew could readily view his clinical trend readings in details which can be found in the WitzGO app.
Having a precise plan of care is what our patients tell us they want
Andrew can easily view his latest tailored
care plan from the application’s homepage
Easy access to the next scheduled review
with the CARE team.
Andrew was highly motivated to exercise. The team focused on progressive training, especially targeting improving cardiovascular fitness so as to help the patient eventually achieve his weight loss goals. After optimizing his cardiovascular fitness, the team progressed to strength training. In just 3 months, he was able to lose 18kg which was about 17% of his initial weight. Andrew also reported an improvement in his mood and he was in fact, energized by the program.
Andrew was determined to lose weight with us running along with him!
Andrew’s weight loss journey
“Andrew is an example of one of our very many patients who were happy that they were able to achieve their individual goals. Due to participating in lifestyle change, Andrew's blood pressure and diabetes control was much improved, and he was able to cut down from 4 to 2 medications when he was off the program without impairing the control of his chronic illnesses.”
- Dr Elaine Chua, GP, Bedok Medical Centre
Andrew could keep track of his overall health and wellbeing by doing up to 7 surveys for health professionals to assess.
Through Andrew’s responses, health professionals gave him feedback and advice during the monthly check-ins.
Find out more about THRUST
For more information about the programme, click on the button below!