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From the Patient’s Perspective: The Impact of Training on Resident Physician’s Obesity Counseling

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Abstract

BACKGROUND

It is uncertain whether training improves physicians’ obesity counseling.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the impact of an obesity counseling curriculum for residents.

DESIGN

A non-randomized, wait-list/control design.

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty-three primary care internal medicine residents; 12 were assigned to the curriculum group, and 11 were assigned to the no-curriculum group. Over a 7-month period (1–8 months post-intervention) 163 of the residents’ obese patients were interviewed after their medical visits.

INTERVENTION

A 5-hour, multi-modal obesity counseling curriculum based on the 5As (Assess, Advise, Agree, Assist, Arrange) using didactics, role-playing, and standardized patients.

MAIN MEASURES

Patient-report of physicians’ use of the 5As was assessed using a structured interview survey. Main outcomes were whether obese patients were counseled about diet, exercise, or weight loss (rate of counseling) and the quality of counseling provided (percentage of 5As skills performed during the visit). Univariate statistics (t-tests) were used to compare the rate and quality of counseling in the two resident groups. Logistic and linear regression was used to isolate the impact of the curriculum after controlling for patient, physician, and visit characteristics.

KEY RESULTS

A large percentage of patients seen by both groups of residents received counseling about their weight, diet, and/or exercise (over 70%), but the quality of counseling was low in both the curriculum and no curriculum groups (mean 36.6% vs. 31.2% of 19 possible 5As counseling strategies, p = 0.21). This difference was not significant. However, after controlling for patient, physician and visit characteristics, residents in the curriculum group appeared to provide significantly higher quality counseling than those in the control group (std β = 0.18; R 2 change = 2.9%, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Residents who received an obesity counseling curriculum were not more likely to counsel obese patients than residents who did not. Training, however, is associated with higher quality of counseling when patient, physician, and visit characteristics are taken into account.

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Acknowledgements

Melanie Jay had full access to the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. The authors would also like to thank Jennifer Adams, Sondra Zabar, David Stevens, Mack Lipkin and the Research on Medical Education Outcomes (ROMEO) team for their consultation and contributions to this project.

Conflict of Interest

None of the authors report any conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General Internal Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, VA New York Harbor, 423 E 23rd Street, New York, NY, 10010, USA

    Melanie Jay MD, Rob Caldwell MD, Adina Kalet MD, MPH, Scott Sherman MD, MPH & Colleen Gillespie PhD

  2. Veterans Affairs New York Harbor, New York, NY, USA

    Scott Sherman MD, MPH

  3. Division of General Internal Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, 10467, USA

    Sheira Schlair MD

Authors
  1. Melanie Jay MD
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  2. Sheira Schlair MD
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  3. Rob Caldwell MD
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  4. Adina Kalet MD, MPH
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  5. Scott Sherman MD, MPH
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  6. Colleen Gillespie PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melanie Jay MD.

Additional information

This project was funded in part from HRSA Grant 12-191-1077--Academic Administrative Units in Primary Care and by CDC Grant # 5 T01 CD000146-03--CDC Fellowship in Medicine and Public Health Research.

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Jay, M., Schlair, S., Caldwell, R. et al. From the Patient’s Perspective: The Impact of Training on Resident Physician’s Obesity Counseling. J GEN INTERN MED 25, 415–422 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-010-1299-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-010-1299-8

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