Despite the rather slow acceptance of obesity as a disease state, several obesity staging systems and weight‐management guidelines have been developed and are in use, along with an ever‐growing number of treatment options. Many primary care clinicians, including nurse practitioners (NPs), are at the forefront of clinical efforts to assist individuals with obesity, but face challenges due to lack of alignment and consensus among the various staging systems and guidelines. This is further complicated by shortfalls in clinical training related to obesity management and increasing complexities in reimbursement for obesity‐related services. Unmet needs in the management of obesity thus stretch from guidelines to clinic. This article examines the principal barriers to effective management of individuals with obesity and considers how concerns might be overcome, with particular emphasis on the role of the NP.
Background:
With no antecedent in the literature, this project examined the effects of exposure to clients living in poverty on nurse practitioner (NP) students’ attitude toward poverty.
Method:
Students participating in adult health courses completed the Attitude Toward Poverty Scale at the start and end of the course. Eight students were immersed for a minimum of 32 hours with a faculty preceptor in a clinic caring for low-income, uninsured patients. These students also responded to open-ended questions regarding their experience.
Results:
NP students had an increase in positive attitude toward impoverished patients after the course (
p
< 0.001). Themes that emerged from the immersion experience were (a) misconception, (b) lack of knowledge about cost and access to care, (c) importance of the clinical environment on learning to be an NP, and (d) empowerment.
Conclusion:
Planned clinical rotations with medically underserved populations may serve to dispel misconceptions about low-income patients. [
J Nurs Educ.
2015;54(7):389–393.]
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