Date of this Version

7-28-2023

Document Type

DNP Project

Abstract

Background: Obesity is a chronic disease that can result in the development of myriad related

health problems including cancer. Providers lack knowledge of the link between obesity and cancer and often miss critical care encounters to educate patients about evidence-based surgical options for reducing obesity and preventing cancer. Objectives: The objective of this quality improvement project was to increase provider knowledge of surgical options for the treatment of obesity to prevent cancer.

Methodology: The project utilized a pre-/post-intervention quality improvement framework to evaluate provider knowledge of the topic at baseline (T0), immediately following an educational program (T1). Knowledge scores were measured using a 20-item test in which all questions were worth one point

Results: A total of n = 15 primary care providers agreed to participate in the project including 16(52%) females. Average knowledge scores from pre-intervention, and post-intervention were 7.85 and 18.99. respectively. Results from a Wilcoxon sum rank test indicated that statistically significant changes in scores occurred from baseline to post-intervention (p < .000). Conclusions: The results support the use of an educational intervention to increase provider knowledge of the topic. Increased knowledge should result in changes to practice to improve patient care.

Implications: Education should be considered as an opportunity to increase provider knowledge of the use of surgical options to reduce cancer incidence in patients with obesity.

Keywords: obesity, cancer, bariatric surgery, education, primary care provider

Comments

Tamarra Braham, Florida International University, Final Paper

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