Impact of an Integrated Obesity Management System on Patient's Care

Impact of an Integrated Obesity Management System on Patient's Care

The investigators developed a program aimed at enhancing primary care physician (PCP) teams' expertise, self-efficacy and attitudes with respect to obesity management. The investigators implemented and evaluated this obesity management system based on a preceptorship combined with a virtual learning community favouring continuous support of family medicine groups (FMGs, Groupes de Médecine Familiale) by a team of experts in obesity management; significant improvements regarding their attitudes and perception of self-efficacy were observed immediately after the preceptorship and maintained after one year. Furthermore, the investigators observed significant changes in their practice that were maintained one year later.

The investigators hypothesize that their program combining preceptorships with a virtual community will improve: (1) management and weight loss of obese/overweight subjects who are treated by PCPs for hypertension (HTN), type 2 diabetes (DM2) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT); and (2) screening and initial management of obesity among unselected patients of PCPs who practice in FMGs.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients who have, during the past 2 years, at least 4 documented visits for the targeted diseases group and at least 2 visits for the regular follow-up group

Exclusion Criteria:

• Active mental health problem
• Active psychiatric disorder
• Cancer in the last five years
• Patient with medication that changed in the last 6 months