A pilot study of primary care physicians' attitude to weight loss surgery in England: are the young more prejudiced?
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Primary care practitioners (PCP) are the "gate-keepers" for publicly funded weight loss surgery (WLS) in the United Kingdom, but their attitude toward WLS has not been studied to date. OBJECTIVE: This pilot study aimed to investigate opinions and experience of PCPs regarding WLS in the United Kingdom. SETTING: PCPs from 3 publicly funded primary care consortiums from distinct geographic areas within the United Kingdom were surveyed. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey approach was used to assess PCP attitude to WLS surgery. A questionnaire was sent electronically to PCPs, designed to assess PCP demographic, experience, knowledge, and attitude regarding obesity and WLS. For the purposes of analysis, PCPs were divided into junior and senior based on duration of practice. RESULTS: Of PCPs, 35 completed and returned the questionnaire. Although PCPs stated that approximately 30% of their patients were obese, 17 (49%) had made not a single referral for WLS in the previous 12 months. PCPs overestimated early WLS mortality rate more than 10-fold and 23 (66%) did not feel confident providing care to patients post-WLS. Junior PCPs were significantly more likely to feel that WLS should not be publicly funded (P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest a prejudice against WLS amongst PCPs in England, particularly among junior doctors.
Date Issued
2017-11-20
Date Acceptance
2017-11-11
Citation
Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, 2017, 14 (3), pp.376-380
ISSN
1550-7289
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
376
End Page
380
Journal / Book Title
Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases
Volume
14
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2017 American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29254687
PII: S1550-7289(17)31047-X
Subjects
Bariatric surgery
Funding
Primary healthcare
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States