RESUMO
Background: This commentary provides an overview of forthcoming activities by Obesity Canada (OC) to inform obesity competencies in medical education. Competencies in medical education refer to abilities of medical professionals to appropriately provide patients the care they need. A recognized Canadian framework for informing medical competencies is CanMEDs. Additionally, the Obesity Medicine Education Collaborative (OMEC) provides 32 obesity specific medical competencies to be integrated across medical education curriculum. OC released the first globally recognized Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guideline (CPGs) in 2020 inclusive of 80 recommendations. Referring to the CanMEDs and OMEC competencies, OC is developing medical education competencies for caring for patients who have obesity in line with the recent CPGs that can be applied to health professions education programs around the world. Methods: Activities being completed by OC's Education Action Team include a scoping review to summarize Canadian obesity medical education interventions or programs. Next, with expert consensus a competency set is being developed by utilizing the CanMEDs Framework, OMEC and the CPGs. Following this, OC will initially survey undergraduate medical programs across the country and determine to what degree they are meeting the competencies in content delivery. These findings will lead to a national report card outlining the current state of obesity medical education in Canada within undergraduate medical education. Results: To date, OC has completed the scoping review and the competency set. The Education Action Team is in the process of developing the survey tools to assess the current delivery of obesity medical education in Canada. Conclusion: The evidenced-based report card will support advocacy to refine and enhance future educational initiatives with the overall goal of improving patient care for individuals living with obesity. The process being applied in Canada may also be applicable and modified for other regions to assess and better obesity medical education.
RESUMO
Background: Obesity is a prevalent chronic disease in Canada. Individuals living with obesity frequently interact with medical professionals who must be prepared to provide evidence-based and person-centred care options. The purpose of this scoping review was to summarize existing educational interventions on obesity in Canada for current and prospective medical professionals and to identify key future directions for practice and research. Methods: A scoping review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews. The search strategy was conducted using Medline (via PubMed), Embase, Eric, CBCA, Proquest Education, and Proquest Theses. The inclusion criteria included delivery of an educational intervention on obesity for current medical professionals, medical undergraduate trainees, or residents administered in Canada. Data were extracted from the included studies to thematically summarize the intervention content, and main outcomes assessed. Future directions for research and practice were identified. Results: Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. The interventions ranged in terms of the mode of delivery, including interactive in-person workshops and seminars, online learning modules, webinars, and videos. The main outcomes assessed were attitudes towards patients living with obesity, self-efficacy for having sensitive obesity-related discussions, skills to assess obesity and provision of management options. All studies reported improvements in the outcomes. Future directions identified were the need to develop standardized obesity competencies for inclusion across medical education programs, further research on effective pedagogical approaches to integrating content into existing curricula and the need for broader awareness and assessment of the quality of obesity education resources. Conclusion: Although there have been few obesity-specific educational interventions for current and prospective medical professionals in Canada, existing evidence shows positive learning outcomes. These findings advocate for continued investment in the development of obesity medical training and educational interventions.
