Physical activity habits of doctors and medical students influence their counselling practices

Abstract

Doctors are well positioned to provide physical activity (PA) counselling to patients. They are a respected source of health-related information and can provide continuing preventive counselling feedback and follow-up; they may have ethical obligations to prescribe PA. Several barriers to PA counselling exist, including insufficient training and motivation of doctors and improvable, personal PA habits. Rates of exercise counselling by doctors remain low; only 34% of US adults report exercise counselling at their last medical visit. In view of this gap, one of the US health objectives for 2010 is increasing the proportion of patients appropriately counselled about health behaviours, including exercise/PA. Research shows that clinical providers who themselves act on the advice they give provide better counselling and motivation of their patients to adopt such health advice. In summary, there is compelling evidence that the health of doctors matters and that doctors' own PA practices influence their clinical attitudes towards PA. Medical schools need to increase the proportion of students adopting and maintaining regular PA habits to increase the rates and quality of future PA counselling delivered by doctors.

Nível de atividade física e acúmulo de tempo sentado em estudantes de medicina

“…A literatura tem mostrado que há uma consciência crescente de que o bem-estar dos médicos e seus hábitos afetam a saúde de seus pacientes, o que também incluí a atividade física 16,17,[26][27][28] . Um estudo prospectivo 16 com uma amostra representativa (N = 2.316) dos estudantes de medicina dos EUA de 16 universidades evidenciou que os estudantes de medicina que cumpriram ou aderiram às recomendações de atividade física ao longo dos quatro anos do estudo demonstraram melhor saúde mental, maior taxa de prescrição da atividade física e maior influência dessas prescrições em relação aos seus pacientes.…”

“…Segundo Lobelo et al 27 os médicos são uma fonte respeitável de informações relacionadas à saúde e podem fornecer um feedback contínuo de aconselhamento preventivo e de acompanhamento aos pacientes. Contudo, várias barreiras para o aconselhamento existem, incluindo a formação insuficiente, a falta de motivação, de aperfeiçoa-mento e os hábitos pessoais.…”

“…Assim, vários estudos 16,17,[26][27][28] concordam com a necessidade de estudar o nível de atividade física e comportamentos relacionados à saúde dos estudantes de medicina, sendo importante a descrição destes aspectos do grupo, pois poderão servir para elaborar estratégias e intervenções como medida preventiva para a adoção de hábitos de vida saudáveis e a melhoria da qualidade de vida tantos dos estudantes quanto de seus pacientes.…”

Genomic Risk Profiling: Attitudes and Use in Personal and Clinical Care of Primary Care Physicians Who Offer Risk Profiling

“…Other studies have demonstrated that physicians' personal behavior influences practice behavior, with respect to exercise 24,25 and preventive care 26 . We found that personal experience with the test was also an important factor related to test ordering for patients, perhaps as a result of increased physicians' familiarity with the test and comfort in ordering it for patients.…”

Obesity and health problems among South African healthcare workers: do healthcare workers take care of themselves?

“…In a recent study from the USA, compelling evidence was found that the physical activity habits of doctors and medical students influenced their clinical attitudes towards physcial activity. 18 Doctors who themselves had regular physcial activity provided better counselling and motivation to their patients to adopt such health advice. 18 A study carried out by Wright on nurses' perceptions of acceptable body size revealed that nurses were uncomfortable about giving advice about weight control to obese patients.…”