European GPs feel inadequately trained to prevent and treat obesity. Should we care?
By Dr Catriona Walsh Photo by Christopher Flowers on Unsplash A recent survey of European GPs indicates that they are not confident in managing obesity, and are too short of time during sessions with patients to go into any detail anyway, with only 10 minutes spent on each patient on average. GPs recognise that obesity is a complex issue, but are overwhelmed by their workload. Ironically much of this is obesity, diet and lifestyle related, and therefore much of it is largely preventable. GPs are calling for more training on obesity, but also feel that the public needs more education on the causes and consequences of it. 97% of U.K. GPs felt that there should be more education of the public on these topics. I wonder what the remaining 3% were thinking? There is a feeling amongst European GPs that people are becoming more complacent about the negative health effects of obesity. This is probably largely due to the fact that it has become so normal and normalised in socie