Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Adult Weight Loss Surgery & Weight Management Center, MetroHealth System, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Int J Obes (Lond). 2024 Jan;48(1):78-82. doi: 10.1038/s41366-023-01387-1. Epub 2023 Sep 28.
Education about the prevalent chronic disease of obesity is still minimal and variable in medical school curricula. In a student-led effort with faculty support, the authors designed and implemented an obesity medicine elective at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (CWRU). The 10-week elective, taught by seven physicians and one dietitian, was offered in January 2023 to medical students and included: weekly lectures, an interactive session with a patient, shadowing in obesity medicine practices, attendance at a distance-learning intensive behavioral lifestyle program, student presentations, and a final written reflection. The purpose of this study was to analyze the elective reflections and identify themes about the elective's value and areas to improve.
The authors analyzed reflections from the 20 medical students that completed the elective via qualitative thematic analysis. The analysis was performed using the Braun and Clarke six-phase framework: (1) become familiar with the data, (2) generate initial codes, (3) search for themes, (4) review themes, (5) define themes, and (6) write-up.
The themes identified were improved: (1) understanding of obesity as a chronic disease, (2) knowledge about treatment options for obesity (3) confidence in compassionate obesity counseling skills, and (4) skills to confront weight bias. Theme (5) consisted of highlights (hearing from experts, practicing evidence-based medicine, and interacting with patients), and areas to improve (session length, presentation format, more peer-to-peer interaction, and more diverse patient interactions).
Medical student assessments of a new obesity medicine elective described improved attitudes, knowledge, and skills to address obesity and obesity bias. Students were very satisfied and contributed ideas for improvements. This elective structure and evaluation method is a feasible model to provide medical students with meaningful experiences related to obesity.
医学课程中关于肥胖这一普遍慢性疾病的教育仍然很少且各不相同。在一项由学生主导并得到教师支持的努力下，作者在凯斯西储大学医学院（CWRU）设计并实施了一门肥胖医学选修课程。该 10 周的选修课程由七名医生和一名营养师授课，于 2023 年 1 月向医学生开放，包括：每周讲座、与患者进行互动、在肥胖医学实践中进行观察、参加远程学习强化行为生活方式课程、学生演讲以及最终的书面反思。本研究的目的是分析选修课程的反思，确定关于选修课程价值和改进领域的主题。
作者通过定性主题分析，分析了完成该选修课程的 20 名医学生的反思。分析使用 Braun 和 Clarke 六阶段框架进行：（1）熟悉数据，（2）生成初始代码，（3）搜索主题，（4）审查主题，（5）定义主题，（6）撰写。
确定的主题为：（1）对肥胖作为一种慢性疾病的理解，（2）对肥胖治疗选择的了解，（3）对富有同情心的肥胖咨询技能的信心，以及（4）对抗体重偏见的技能。主题（5）包括亮点（听取专家意见、实践循证医学、与患者互动）和改进领域（课程时长、演示格式、更多的同伴互动、更多样化的患者互动）。
医学生对一门新的肥胖医学选修课程的评估描述了改善的态度、知识和技能，以解决肥胖和肥胖偏见问题。学生非常满意，并提出了改进建议。这种选修课程结构和评估方法是为医学生提供与肥胖相关的有意义体验的可行模式。
