Low priority of obesity education leads to lack of medical students' preparedness to effectively treat patients with obesity: results from the US medical school obesity education curriculum benchmark study
Low priority of obesity education leads to lack of medical students' preparedness to effectively treat patients with obesity: results from the US medical school obesity education curriculum benchmark study
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DOI：
10.1186/s12909-020-1925-z
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发表时间：
2020-01-28
影响因子：
3.6
通讯作者：
Smolarz, B. Gabriel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Butsch, W. Scott;Kushner, Robert F.;Smolarz, B. Gabriel
背景目前医生还没有准备好治疗肥胖症患者，这是一个非常令人关注的问题，因为肥胖症在美国流行。本研究旨在评估美国医学院肥胖教育的现状，以肥胖医学教育合作组织（OMEC）提出的医学院课程解决能力的程度为基准。方法通过邮寄方式向美国医学院协会编制的141所美国医学院发出完成在线调查的邀请。了解医学院课程的医学院院长和课程工作人员在2018年夏天完成了在线调查。进行了描述性分析。结果141所医学院校中有40所（28.4%）回复并完成了调查。只有10.0%的受访者认为他们的学生“非常准备”管理肥胖患者，三分之一的人报告说，他们的医学院没有肥胖教育计划，也没有计划制定一个。接受调查的医学院中有一半报告说，扩大肥胖教育是一个低优先级或不是一个优先级。据报道，平均有10个小时专门用于肥胖教育，但不到40%的学校报告说，任何与肥胖有关的主题都得到了很好的覆盖（即，“在很大程度上”）。医学生接受了足够的教育（定义为至少在“某种程度上”覆盖），主题是生物学，生理学，肥胖流行病学，肥胖相关的合并症，以及基于证据的行为改变模型，以评估患者对咨询的准备程度（范围：79.5%至94.9%）。然而，在接受调查的学校中，约有30%的学校很少或根本没有关于营养和行为肥胖干预，与肥胖患者适当沟通或药物治疗的教育。据报告，课程中缺乏空间是纳入肥胖教育的最大障碍。结论目前，美国医学院没有充分准备他们的学生管理肥胖患者。尽管肥胖流行和高成本负担，医学院并没有在他们的课程中优先考虑肥胖。
Background Physicians are currently unprepared to treat patients with obesity, which is of great concern given the obesity epidemic in the United States. This study sought to evaluate the current status of obesity education among U.S. medical schools, benchmarking the degree to which medical school curricula address competencies proposed by the Obesity Medicine Education Collaborative (OMEC). Methods Invitations to complete an online survey were sent via postal mail to 141 U.S. medical schools compiled from Association of American Medical Colleges. Medical school deans and curriculum staff knowledgeable about their medical school curriculum completed online surveys in the summer of 2018. Descriptive analyses were performed. Results Forty of 141 medical schools responded (28.4%) and completed the survey. Only 10.0% of respondents believe their students were "very prepared" to manage patients with obesity and one-third reported that their medical school had no obesity education program in place and no plans to develop one. Half of the medical schools surveyed reported that expanding obesity education was a low priority or not a priority. An average of 10 h was reported as dedicated to obesity education, but less than 40% of schools reported that any obesity-related topic was well covered (i.e., to a "great extent"). Medical students received an adequate education (defined as covered to at least "some extent") on the topics of biology, physiology, epidemiology of obesity, obesity-related comorbidities, and evidence-based behavior change models to assess patient readiness for counseling (range: 79.5 to 94.9%). However, in approximately 30% of the schools surveyed, there was little or no education in nutrition and behavioral obesity interventions, on appropriate communication with patients with obesity, or pharmacotherapy. Lack of room in the curriculum was reported as the greatest barrier to incorporating obesity education. Conclusions Currently, U.S. medical schools are not adequately preparing their students to manage patients with obesity. Despite the obesity epidemic and high cost burden, medical schools are not prioritizing obesity in their curricula.