Geisinger Education Intervention Study in Obesity Protocol (GEISO)

Geisinger Health

Status: Completed

Conditions: Obesity

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other; Industry

Identifiers

NCT01160146

2009-0296

Details and patient eligibility

About

Overweight and obesity has become an epidemic which warrants more aggressive treatment. However, few primary care physicians (PCPs) address this issue or do not possess adequate education regarding treatment modalities such as nutrition counseling or bariatric surgery. The primary goal of this study will be to determine whether the referrals for weight management can be influenced through obesity education.

Full description

Evaluation of educational interventions focusing on the treatment of obesity will include in person CME sessions, interactive game/virtual patient computer software and two 30 minute DVD/Web-based CME opportunities that the physicians can review at their leisure. These educational interventions were not completed as part of this research.

A control group will be comprised of those healthcare professionals who did not complete the CME survey.

Completion of the post education survey would be completed even if there was no study. The reward given to PCP's (free enrollment in CME session and either lab coat or $40 CME credit) was given for clinical purposes only and not for research. The study consists of the collection of PCP referral rates prior to the educational opportunity and then after the CME looking for a change to referral rates.

In June of 2009, an Obesity Educational Intervention Summit was attended by PCPs. This research seeks approval to perform data pulls consisting of referrals from their practice to the GI/Nutrition Clinic for potential bariatric surgery evaluation.

The information to be collected regarding the primary care providers' referral rates will be collected by a CDIS data pull by a data broker. The biostatistician will link survey responses to referral patterns and education type and will be true, only individual to have access to direct identifiers and in turn will provide PI and study team with de-identified summary data.

Enrollment: 289 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Geisinger General Internal and Family Medicine PCPs (include physician, physical assistants and CRNP):

• PCP must be active between May 2008 - May 2009
• Average patient age between 30-60 (no individual patients will be identified using personal identification)
• Minimum of 100 patients assigned to PC

Exclusion criteria

• PCPs from clinics/departments other than General Internal Medicine or Family Medicine will be excluded from the analysis

Trial design

289 participants in 1 patient group

Lifestyle counseling

Description:

Clinicians provide lifestyle management counseling regarding healthful lifestyle behaviors and daily physical activity. 1. Logging foods for accountability and counting calories 2. Close attention to portion control and appropriate serving sizes of foods consumed 3. Consumption of appropriate calorie and sugar free beverages 4. Good meal distribution and avoidance of meal skipping 5. Balance of food groups using the MyPlate concept (USDA Choose My Plate)-inclusion of all food groups with emphasis on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products and lean meat/fish/poultry 6. Increasing physical activity with reasonable, sustainable exercise or activity. Working toward a goal of at least 30 minutes, 5 days per week