What Do Health Professionals Need To Know About Obesity?
Achieving and maintaining competencies is an ongoing challenge for all health professionals. But in an area like obesity, where most will have received rather rudimentary training (if any), most health professionals will likely be starting from scratch. So what exactly must you expect of a health professional involved in the care of individuals living with obesity. This is the subject of a white paper on “Provider Competencies for the Prevention and Management of Obesity“, developed with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The panel of authors led by Don Bradley (Duke) and William Dietz (George Washington) included representatives from over 20 national (US) professional organisations. The competencies expected cover the following 10 topics: Competencies for Core Obesity Knowledge 1.0 Demonstrate a working knowledge of obesity as a disease 2.0 Demonstrate a working knowledge of the epidemiology of the obesity epidemic 3.0 Describe the disparate burden of obesity and approaches to mitigate it Competencies for Interprofessional Obesity Care 4.0 Describe the benefits of working interprofessionally to address obesity to achieve results that cannot be achieved by a single health professional 5.0 Apply the skills necessary for effective interprofessional collaboration and integration of clinical and community care for obesity Competencies for Patient Interactions Related to Obesity 6.0 Use patient-centered communication when working with individuals with obesity and others 7.0 Employ strategies to minimize bias towards and discrimination against people with obesity, including weight, body habitus, and the causes of obesity 8.0 Implement a range of accommodations and safety measures specific to people with obesity 9.0 Utilize evidence-based care/services for people with obesity or at risk for obesity 10.0 Provide evidence-based care/services for people with obesity comorbidities Some of the topics include further subtopics that are deemed especially relevant. Thus, for e.g., topic 6.o, regarding communication, includes the following sub-competencies: 6.1 Discuss obesity in a non-judgmental manner using person-first language in all communications 6.2 Incorporate the environmental, social, emotional, and cultural context of obesity into conversations with people with obesity 6.3 Use person- and family-centered communication (e.g., using active listening, empathy, autonomy support/shared decision making) to engage the patient and others Similarly, topic 7.0, regarding the issue of weight bias and discrimination, includes the following sub-competencies: 7.1 Describe the ways in which weight bias and stigma impact health and wellbeing 7.2 Recognize and mitigate personal biases 7.3 Recognize and mitigate the weight biases of others This is clearly a forward-thinking outline of competencies that we will… Read More »
1st International Diabetes Expert Conclave (IDEC) 2017
Last week I was an invited plenary speaker at the 1st International Diabetes Expert Conclave (IDEC2017) held in Pune, India. This 3-day event, organised by Drs. Neeta Deshpande (Belgaum), Sanjay Agrawal (Pune) and colleagues, brought together well over 900 physicians from across India for a jam-packed program that covered everything from diabetic food disease and neuropathy to the latest in insulin pumps and devices – all in a uniquely Indian context. I, of course, was there to speak on obesity, which featured prominently in the program. Topics on obesity ranged from the potential role of gut bugs to bariatric surgery. While Dr. Allison Goldfine, former Director of Clinical Research at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston spoke on the latest developments in anti-obesity pharmacotherapy (delivering her talk via Skype), I spoke about obesity as a chronic disease and the need to redefine obesity based on actual indicators of health rather than BMI. During my visit in Pune, I also had the opportunity to visit with my friend and colleague Dr. Shashank Shah, whose bariatric surgical center in Pune alone performs about 75 to 100 bariatric operations per month – a remarkable number by any standards. Of course, the overwhelming number of talks were given by Indian faculty (there being only a handful of select invited international faculty at the meeting), and I did come away most impressed by the breadth and depth of knowledge presented by the local speakers. Diabetes care certainly appears to be in good hands although the sheer number of patients with diabetes (estimated at about 70 million, which I assume to be a rather conservative assessment), would provide a challenge to any health care system. On the obesity front, things are a lot less rosy, given that (as everywhere else) obesity has yet to receive the same level of professional attention and expertise afforded to diabetes or other chronic diseases. Thanks again to the organisers for inviting me to this exciting meeting and congratulations on an excellent event that bodes well for the 2nd Conclave planned for 2018. @DrSharma Edmonton, AB
Obesity Definition Then And Now
The first item on the disease definition modification checklist developed by the Guidelines International Network (G-I-N) Preventing Overdiagnosis Working Group published in JAMA Internal Medicine, pertains to the issue of how a proposed new definition would differ from the existing definition. As authors are well aware, the current definition that is widely used to define obesity is based on BMI, a simple anthropometric measure calculated from body height and weight – a great measure of size, not such a great measure of health. In contrast, the proposed definition of obesity, where obesity is defined as the presence of abnormal or excess fat that impairs health, would require the actual assessment and demonstration of the presence of health impairments attributable to a given subject’s body fat. Thus, while anyone can currently “diagnose” obesity simply by entering height and weight into a BMI calculator and looking up the value on a BMI chart, the new definition would in fact require a full clinical assessment of an individual’s health. Such an assessment would need to look at both mental and physical health as well as overall well-being for issues that may be directly caused (or aggravated by) the presence of abnormal of excess body fat. This does in fact bring up the issue of how exactly you would define “abnormal” or “excess” body fat and, even more importantly, how you would establish a relationship between body fat and any health impairments in a given individual. While these issues would clearly need to be worked out, the face value of this approach should be evident in that it focusses on the issue of actual health impairments rather than an arbitrary BMI cut-off, above which everyone would be considered as having obesity. This of course raises a number of issues around definition precision and accuracy, which is another item on the checklist and will be discussed in a future post. @DrSharma Edmonton, AB
Become A Certified Bariatric Educator (CBE)
Are you a Canadian allied health professional who wants to take your obesity management skills to the next level? Then you may be interested in the new Certified Bariatric Educator program launched by the Canadian Obesity Network at the recent 5th Canadian Obesity Summit. The Certified Bariatric Educator (CBE) designation will signify specialized knowledge in the principles of obesity management and will distinguish an allied healthcare professional as having achieved competency in obesity management and bariatric care. Certification is open to all Canadian allied healthcare professionals who are currently working or interested in working in bariatric medicine looking to gain the expertise, necessary tools, and strategies to approach, assess and manage patients with obesity. Candidates will need to successfully complete one of following (or a comparable) courses: American Board of Obesity Medicine (ABOM) Advanced Obesity Management Program Specialist Certification of Obesity Professional Education (SCOPE) Have at least 700 hours of practical experience related to obesity management within a medical or allied healthcare professional setting and a letter from the employer. Carry an active healthcare practitioner license in good standing. And score at least 80% in an online exam. For more details on becoming a Certified Bariatric Educator – click here @DrSharma Edmonton, CA
Report Card on Access to Obesity Treatment for Adults in Canada 2017: Recommendations
Based on the failing access to obesity care for the overwhelming majority of the 6,000,000 Canadians living with obesity in our publicly funded healthcare systems, the 2017 Report Card on Access To Obesity Treatment For Adults, released the 5th Canadian Obesity Summit, has the following 7 recommendations for Canadian policy makers: Provincial and territorial governments, employers and the health insurance industry should officially adopt the position of the Canadian Medical Association that obesity is a chronic disease and orient their approach/resources accordingly. Provincial and territorial governments should recognize that weight bias and stigma are barriers to helping people with obesity and enshrine rights in provincial/territorial human rights codes, workplace regulations, healthcare systems and education. Employers should recognize and treat obesity as a chronic disease and provide coverage for evidence-based obesity programs and products for their employees through health benefit plans. Provincial and territorial governments should increase training for health professionals on obesity management. Provincial and territorial governments and health authorities should increase the availability of interdisciplinary teams and increase their capacity to provide evidence- based obesity management. Provincial and territorial governments should include anti-obesity medications, weight-management programs with meal replacement and other evidence-based products and programs in their provincial drug benefit plans. Existing Canadian Clinical practice Guidelines for the management and treatment of obesity in adults should be updated to reflect advances in obesity management and treatment in order to support the development of programs and policies of federal, provincial and territorial governments, employers and the health insurance industry. If and when any of the stakeholders adopt these recommendations is anyone’s guess. However, I am certain that since the release of the Report Cards, the relevant governments and other stakeholders are probably taking a closer look at what obesity management resources are currently being provided within their jurisdictions. Given that things can’t really get any worse, there is hope that eventually Canadians living with obesity will have the same access to healthcare for their chronic disease as Canadians living with any other illness. @DrSharma Edmonton, AB
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