Files

Abstract

Obesity is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, and management in primary care is currently suboptimal. This quality improvement (QI) project aimed to increase access to obesity management services in two primary care clinics in Oregon by increasing the number of primary care providers (PCPs) equipped to provide these services. Methods included evaluating a pilot primary care holistic weight management program (WMP), creating and disseminating a WMP guide to PCPs, and educating PCPs on obesity management. The primary intervention of this QI project was a 30-minute educational session for PCPs on obesity management and administration of a pre-and post-intervention survey. After the education session, PCPs reported increased confidence in certain aspects of obesity management and rated the WMP guide beneficial for clinical practice. Providers reported a lack of time as the main barrier to providing these services and decreased willingness to offer a WMP following the education session. WMP data analysis revealed that patients who completed the program experienced an average weight loss of 5.8% [95% CI (4.1, 7.5)] over an average of 5.7 months, indicating that this is an effective treatment approach to obesity management in the primary care setting. Further QI projects or research can build on this knowledge and investigate ways to increase the number of PCPs that offer holistic obesity services and evaluate the long-term effectiveness of primary-care-based WMPs.

Details

PDF

Statistics

from
to
Export
Download Full History