OBESITY MANAGEMENT: A 911 CALL TO AMERICAN HEALTHCARE

Course overview

Data from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases indicates that more than two thirds of U.S. adults are overweight (33.1%) or obese (35.7%) with an additional 6% classified as extremely obese. Nearly one third (31.8 %) of youths ages 2 to 19 are overweight or obese. The American Medical Association voted in June 2013 to declare obesity a disease in hopes of improving treatment efforts for management of this growing public health problem. Multiple tools are available to assist healthcare providers in counseling patients toward healthier eating and exercise patterns, yet due to limited time they have not accessed and arranged them into tools that they can use to improve outcomes for their patients.