Surveying the Knowledge and Practices of Primary Care Residents in Managing Adult Patients with Obesity

Background: The prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide at an alarming rate, yet obesity remains under-addressed during clinic encounters. A lack of training in how to treat obesity is one crucial factor contributing to this deficiency.

Objective: This study explored resident physicians' perceptions of their education on obesity and its relationship with confidence and practice behaviors when caring for patients with obesity.

Design: A survey was distributed to residency directors to share with residents in their programs. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. Data was collected over a 3-month period.

Participants: Residents in Family Medicine and Internal Medicine programs in West Virginia and Indiana who saw adult patients in an ambulatory care setting.

Main measures: The electronic survey queried the presence of a formal curriculum on Obesity Medicine (OM) and each resident's knowledge, confidence, practice behaviors, and attitudes pertaining to OM.

Key results: The survey was distributed to 490 residents in 12 programs. Response rate was 22.9% (112 resident physicians). All respondents felt that medical training in obesity should be strengthened. Residents who reported having a formal curriculum on OM were more likely than those without a curriculum to rate their confidence as "high" when discussing weight (35.0% vs. 16.7%, p = 0.03) and when counseling patients about diet and nutrition (37.5% vs. 18.1%, p = 0.02). They also more frequently reported learning enough from faculty to manage obesity (65.0% vs. 29.2%, p < 0.001). Residents with an OM curriculum reported discussing obesity as a problem with patients (100.0% vs. 86.1%, p = 0.01), and completing motivational interviews (90.0% vs. 58.3%, p = < 0.001), more frequently than their peers without a curriculum.

Conclusions: Residents with a formal OM curriculum were more confident in addressing and discussing obesity with patients. Formal training in OM will strengthen resident training to better address and treat patients with obesity.