Interprofessional Obesity Care

Question 1

Who do you find on a interprofessional care team?

Answer 1

Surgeon: to evaluate surgical cause of weight gain, consider surgical options if indicated

Dietitian: to evaluate nutritional intake, consider dietary changes

Psychologist: to evaluate any psychological impact, consider therapy and/or medications to treat potential factors

Exercise Physiologist: to evaluate limitations/barriers to physical activity,
consider physical activity options

Bariatrician (obesity medicine physician): to evaluate impact of new medications, diagnoses, other potential factors to weight regain, consider pharmacological options

Question 2

Interprofessional Collaborative Practice
Core Competencies

What is domain 1?

Answer 2

Values/Ethics for the
Interprofessional Practice

Work with individuals of other professions to
maintain a climate of mutual respect and
shared values

Question 3

Interprofessional Collaborative Practice
Core Competencies

What is domain 2?

Answer 3

Roles/Responsibilities

Use the knowledge of one’s own role and
those of other professions to appropriately
assess and address the healthcare needs of
the patients and populations served

Question 4

Interprofessional Collaborative Practice
Core Competencies

What is domain 3?

Answer 4

Interprofessional Communication

Communicate with patients, families,
communities and other health professionals in
a responsive and responsible manner that
supports a team approach to the maintenance
of health and the treatment of disease

Question 5

Interprofessional Collaborative Practice
Core Competencies

What is domain 4?

Answer 5

Teams and Teamwork

Apply relationship-building values and the
principles of team dynamics to perform
effectively in different team roles to plan and
deliver patient/population-centered care that
is safe, timely, efficient, effective and
equitable

Question 6

What are the benefits to interprofessional care?

Answer 6

• Allows the specialist to focus on their area of expertise
• Promotes coordination of care across the continuum of health care
• Better communication
• Improved experience, outcomes, and costs of health care
• Reduced risk for hospital readmissions or visit to the emergency department
• Can improve safety and healthcare delivery
• Increased patient satisfaction

Question 7

What are the barriers to interprofessional care?

Answer 7

Reimbursement - Spending resources harder to justify in a traditional fee-for-service payer model

Culture of health care - Professionals are not used to working collaboratively across disciplines, little exposure to each other’s role and perspective, physicians have historically been autonomous and dominant of other
health professions, rather than collaborative, patients have not typically been part of the decision making related to their
care, resistance to change

Lack of information and role models