Abstracts / Posters
Review of initial treatment choices for weight management delivered by practice nurses in the UK: The Counterweight Primary care obesity initiative
Accepted for oral presentation at the “IV International Nutrition and Dietetics Congress” 2003 Antalya
The Counterweight Project Team
Objective: To assess the effectiveness of training on treatment choices of a nurse-administered weight management programme in primary care.
Methods: 80 primary care practices from 7 areas of the UK were recruited into the counterweight programme. Specialist obesity dietitians provided training, clinical support and guidelines to nurses. Practice nurses had two main treatment options for initial intervention a) 6 individual appointments of 10-20 minutes (delivered either as a prescribed eating plan (PEP) of 600kcal energy deficit or as goal setting) or b) group sessions lasting one hour, for 6 sessions over 3 months. Other interventions patients accessed included exercise referral schemes, commercial groups and anti-obesity medication. Data reported is from the first 30 practices.
Results: 682 patients were recruited. 632 (92.7%) of patients followed one of the core treatments of goals, PEP or group programme. 423 (62%) attended for individual intervention, of these 240 (35.2%) received goal setting and 135 (19.8%) PEP and 35 (5.1%) received both. 199 (29.2%) participated in the group programme. 22 (3.2%) of patients received anti-obesity medication in combination with one of the core treatments. Only 10 patients (1.5%) did not receive any of the core treatments and instead attended a commercial programme, exercise scheme or took anti-obesity medication. 40 (5.8.%) discussed a weight loss target with the nurse but did not return for any further intervention.
Conclusion: The training was effective in outlining a treatment pathway for practice nurses in managing obese patients in primary care.