New Surveys From Stop Obesity Alliance Show Primary Care Doctors And Patients See Shared Role In Weight Loss, But Ask, Now What?

A fair question.

Primary care physicians agree they have a role in addressing obesity, but say they do not have the right weight management resources. Obese or heavier adults take responsibility for weight loss, but adults who need to lose weight may lack information about effective weight loss methods and strategies. These findings and others come from new research commissioned and released today by the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance, a project operating out of the Department of Health Policy at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.

In a national survey of 290 primary care physicians conducted by Harris Interactive® by mail between September 1 and December 21, 2009, 89 percent of primary care physicians believe it is their responsibility to help overweight or obese patients lose weight, but 72 percent of those surveyed also said that no one in their practice has been trained to deal with weight-related issues...

"Patients are frustrated from previous failed weight loss attempts and need realistic definitions of success that focus on health...

But training them in the party line to weight loss will result in repeated failure. (see here, here and here.)

The real hope for success is to separate the sick care system from weight loss and give people a fighting chance to succeed.