Combining Physical Activity Guidelines into Medical Education

Despite a large organization of research supporting the health benefits of regular physical activity (PA), few doctors include PA counseling in their office visits. This has been qualified to a lack of medical training. This study examines the curriculum components and evaluates the efficacy of programs documenting PA counseling education results in medical school. The use of an exercise prescription is a key tool for improving patient healthcare and preventing chronic illnesses, but there are significant challenges to its broad acceptance by physicians. A major impediment is a lack of education in the information and skills needed to appropriately use an exercise prescription, exacerbated by its exclusion from medical school curricula.

Introduction

Physical activity (PA) is essential for good health. A substantial body of data links frequent involvement in PA to a significantly lower risk of various chronic illnesses, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and some malignancies. Regular physical activity also aids in the treatment of chronic conditions. Despite these well-known advantages, most individuals continue to stay sedentary. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), physical inactivity is the fourth greatest cause of death worldwide, with an estimated 3.2 million deaths yearly.

Physical inactivity and its related low cardiorespiratory fitness are also said to be responsible for roughly 20% of adult fatalities, which is greater than obesity (2%–3%), smoking (8%–9%), diabetes (2%–4%), and high cholesterol (2%–4%) combined. A prescription for increased physical exercise has undeniable health benefits for patients.

Physical Activity Guidelines for Children and Adolescents

The Health Education Authority symposium ‘Young and Active?’ in 1998 provided many guidelines for young people’s physical exercise. The standards for teenage physical activity were divided into two categories: I, as part of their lifestyle, all adolescents should be physically active on a daily or nearly daily basis; (ii) adolescents should participate in three or more sessions per week of activities that last 20 minutes or more and demand moderate to strenuous levels of effort.

Exercise prescriptions in medical education

Exercise prescription (ExRx) information is frequently missing from the medical curriculum in the United States and the United Kingdom. Where it is provided, it is often extracurricular, optional, or does not cover all required topics and abilities. Although a similar assessment of the Canadian medical curriculum has yet to be conducted, UBC Faculty of Medicine students have described themselves as insufficient to utilize the ExRx, despite their belief that it is important to their future practices. The Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and the Canadian Medical Association have publicly acknowledged ExRx’s relevance to Canadians’ health and underlined the need for it to be incorporated into the medical curriculum in Canada.

Recommendations

· Earlier in the curriculum, it emphasizes the relevance of physical exercise as a crucial health factor.

· Involvement of tutors, preceptors, and other role models with ExRx expertise in curriculum delivery.

· They are increasing the number of chances for students to practice ExRx with patients.

· Including these abilities in tests emphasizes their value as an exit competence.

· They are putting a greater focus on encouraging pupils to exercise on their own.

Conclusion

We urge that the most well-supported results, as described above (and recently adopted through KSAs and associated initiatives), be included in the building of PA counseling medical education curricula. Regular exercise has been shown to reduce the chance of death, chronic ill health, and economic costs. Physicians are best positioned to improve their patient’s health by prescribing the right ExRx. Future physicians will need to be educated on utilizing an ExRx successfully to take advantage of this. Using ExRx as part of a systemic transformation toward greater lifetime health and well-being, we will fulfill our obligation to react to the most pressing health challenges affecting British Columbians.

References

1. Dacey, Marie L., et al. “Physical activity counseling in medical school education: a systematic review.” Medical education online 19.1 (2014): 24325.

2. Twisk, Jos WR. “Physical activity guidelines for children and adolescents.” Sports medicine 31.8 (2001): 617–627.

Bang F, Roberts KC, Chaput JP, et al. Physical activity, screen time and sleep duration: Combined associations with psychosocial health among Canadian children and youth. Health Rep 2020; 31:9–16.