General Practitioner's Knowledge about Bariatric Surgery Is Associated with Referral Practice to Bariatric Surgery Centers

Barriers to metabolic surgery and how to address them

After bariatric surgery, patients with obesity achieve sustainable weight loss, gain in mobility, quality of life and life expectancy. Bariatric surgery can lead to remission of type 2 diabetes or to long term glycaemic control for patients with type 2 diabetes, while medical treatment has a preventive efficacy on micro and macrovascular complications. This has led to the concept of metabolic surgery to treat type 2 diabetes. Despite the benefits, only a small proportion of eligible patients undergo bariatric/metabolic surgery. Powerful antidiabetic medications, self-estimated lack of knowledge by medical professionals and fear of surgical complications are some of the arguments to prefer medical treatment of type 2 diabetes obesity versus metabolic surgery. We have reviewed in this paper the barriers which explain the low referral rate to metabolic surgery. With the point of view of the diabetologist, the general practitioner and the patient, we have addressed them to help clinicians and patients model an evidenced-based patient-oriented medical plan.

Providers' Knowledge and Perceptions of Bariatric Surgery: a Systematic Review

Bariatric surgery remains underutilized despite its proven efficacy in the management of obesity. Provider perceptions of bariatric surgery are important to consider when discussing utilization rates. PubMed, SCOPUS, and OVID databases were searched in April 2023, and 40 published studies discussing providers' knowledge and perceptions of bariatric surgery were included. There were generally positive perceptions of the efficacy of bariatric surgery, although overestimations of surgical risks and postoperative complications were common. Providers' previous training was associated with knowledge and perceptions of bariatric surgery and familiarity with perioperative management across studies. These perceptions were also associated with referral rates, suggesting that inadequate provider knowledge may contribute to bariatric surgery underutilization. We advocate for increased bariatric surgery-related education throughout all stages of medical training and across specialties.

Primary Care Physicians' Knowledge, Attitude, and Potential Referral Barriers towards Bariatric Surgery: A Northern Saudi Study

Introduction: Bariatric surgery is the most effective procedure for sustained weight loss and control of obesity-associated comorbidities among morbidly obese patients. Successful bariatric surgery depends on a multidisciplinary approach involving all healthcare workers, including the primary care physicians, from the referral of patients to long-term follow-up. The present study assessed the knowledge, attitude, and potential referral barriers of primary care physicians to bariatric surgery and associated sociodemographic factors. Materials and methods: The present analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among 280 randomly selected primary care physicians using a standard and validated data collection tool. We performed an independent t-test and one-way ANOVA to find the association between sociodemographic characteristics and knowledge, attitude, and referral barrier scores. Furthermore, multilinear regression analysis was executed to determine the association among knowledge, attitude, and barriers. Results: The current study found that 52.9%, 19.3%, and 59.3% had a low score in the knowledge, attitude, and barriers categories. The attitude scores were significantly associated with the education status (p = 0.005) and current position at primary health centers (p = 0.012), and the referral barriers score was significantly associated with the work experience duration (p = 0.004). We found a positive relationship between knowledge and attitude (regression coefficient (β) [95% CI]:0.389 [0.154 to 0.585], p = 0.001) and a negative relationship between knowledge and referral barriers (β [95% CI]: -0.291 [-0.127 to -0.058], p = 0.007). Conclusions: Our survey findings suggest that a lack of knowledge regarding bariatric surgery led to several concerns and referral barriers among the physicians. Therefore, the recommendation is to improve the primary care physicians' knowledge through continuing medical education, symposium, and other suitable training methods with a special focus on obesity care in the curriculum. Furthermore, a mixed-method survey involving other provinces of the KSA is warranted to formulate the region-specific training needs.

Exploring the Nexus of Healthcare Employees' Professional Quality, Health Psychology and Service Value: A Qualitative Study

While the implementation of the "graded diagnosis and treatment" system highlights the important role of general practitioners as "residents' health gatekeepers", it brings the problem of insufficient service capacity and difficulty in realizing the service value. At present, the service value of general practitioners is a relatively new topic in the field of general medicine. Therefore, few studies discuss the specific path that affects the realization of their service value. According to literature analysis, the professional quality of general practitioners plays a positive role in improving their service quality. So it can be inferred that the main reason for this phenomenon is that the professional quality level of general practitioners as the service subject is low and they have not been trusted and recognized by the residents of the service object. So far, it is difficult for most residents to change their willingness to go to large hospitals. Training is the most critical link to improving the professional quality of general practitioners. Therefore, how to enhance the professional quality of general practitioners through effective training so as to realize the service value is a problem worth discussing. Our study took 37 general practitioners from 12 Community Health Service hospitals as the interviewees and used grounded theory to mine the internal correlation between variables. The results show that: (1) the professional quality of general practitioners mainly includes three dimensions: professional ethics, theoretical knowledge, and professional skills; (2) through training, the professional quality of general practitioners has been effectively improved; (3) the improvement of general practitioners' professional quality directly affects the realization of their technical value, environmental value and information value; (4) the professional quality of general practitioners can be improved through training, which will affect the realization of their service value. Our research contribution is to break through the previous research paradigm of analyzing the relationship between variables based on the existing literature. This paper uses the procedural grounded theory method to analyze the concept of general practitioners' professional quality from scratch through continuous refinement and summary and constructs a theoretical model of the training path from general practitioners' professional quality to service value. On the one hand, the research results can realize their service value by improving the professional quality of general practitioners. On the other hand, the realization of the service value of general practitioners can provide effective support for patients to create a good medical environment.

Ten Years of Change in Bariatric/Metabolic Surgery in the Asia-Pacific Region with COVID-19 Pandemic: IFSO-APC National Reports 2021

Background

On November 25, 2021, the IFSO-Asia–Pacific Chapter (IFSO-APC) Virtual Meeting 2021 was held online, and the representatives from the Asia–Pacific region presented 10 years of change in bariatric/metabolic surgery and the influence of COVID-19 in the special session of “IFSO-APC National Reports 2010–2020”. We herein report the summarized data.

Methods

National bariatric/metabolic surgery data, which included the data of 2010 and 2020, were collected from the representatives using a questionnaire that consisted of 10 general questions. At the congress, the data were calculated and summarized.

Results

Thirteen of the 14 national societies responded to the survey. From 2010 to recent years, the populations of individuals with obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²) and individuals with diabetes both significantly increased. Eight countries and regions expanded the lower limit of criteria for bariatric surgery by 2–5 kg/m² (BMI), and 5 countries newly established criteria for metabolic surgery in the last ten years. Sixty-nine percent of the countries currently run public health insurance systems, which doubled from 2010. The number of bariatric surgeons and institutions increased more than threefold from 2010. In 2010, 2019, and 2020, surgeons in IFSO-APC societies performed 18,280, 66,010, and 49,553 bariatric/metabolic surgeries, respectively. Due to the COVID pandemic, restriction policies significantly reduced access to surgery in South and Southeast Asian countries. The biggest changes included increased numbers of bariatric surgeons and institutions, operation numbers, public insurance coverage, raising awareness, and national registry systems.

Conclusion

For the last 10 years, bariatric/metabolic surgery has rapidly grown in the Asia–Pacific region.

Advice of General Practitioner, of Surgeon, of Endocrinologist, and Self-determination: the Italian Road to Bariatric Surgery

PURPOSE

Bariatric surgery (BS) is considered the most efficient treatment for severe obesity. International guidelines recommend multidisciplinary approach to BS (general practitioners, endocrinologists, surgeons, psychologists, or psychiatrists), and access to BS should be the final part of a protocol of treatment of obesity. However, there are indications that general practitioners (GPs) are not fully aware of the possible benefits of BS, that specialty physicians are reluctant to refer their patients to surgeons, and that patients with obesity choose self-management of their own obesity, including internet-based choices. There are no data on the pathways chosen by physicians and patients to undergo BS in the real world in Italy.

METHODS

An exploratory exam was performed for 6 months in three pilot regions (Lombardy, Lazio, Campania) in twenty-three tertiary centers for the treatment of morbid obesity, to describe the real pathways to BS in Italy.

RESULTS

Charts of 2686 patients (788 men and 1895 women, 75.5% in the age range 30-59 years) were evaluated by physicians and surgeons of the participating centers. A chronic condition of obesity was evident for the majority of patients, as indicated by duration of obesity, by presence of several associated medical problems, and by frequency of previous dietary attempts to weight loss. The vast majority (75.8%) patients were self-presenting or referred by bariatric surgeons, 24.2% patients referred by GPs and other specialists. Self-presenting patients were younger, more educated, more professional, and more mobile than patients referred by other physicians. Patients above the age of 40 years or with a duration of obesity greater than 10 years had a higher prevalence of all associated medical problems.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of patients referred to a tertiary center for the treatment of morbid obesity have a valid indication for BS. Most patients self-refer to the centers, with a minority referred by a GP or by specialists. Self-presenting patients are younger, more educated, more professional, and more mobile than patients referred by other physicians. Older patients and with a longer duration of obesity are probably representative of the conservative approach to BS, often regarded as the last resort in an endless story.