An anonymous online survey of the views and attitudes of medical students and junior doctors towards physical activity (pa) teaching and promotion.

CONCLUSIONS: This study found that clinical medical students and recent graduates rarely include questions or advice about PA in routine medical consultations. Responders tended to under prioritise physical inactivity as a mortality risk factor, and this may reflect a lack of adequate teaching and emphasis on physical inactivity within medical schools. Fear of offending of alienating patients was the most frequently cited barrier to giving PA advice. This may be due to the inexperience of juniors, or view that labelling someone as physically inactive is stigmatising. This study reaffirms previous findings of low levels of teaching about PA in medical schools and identifies lack of knowledge as one of the prime reasons why PA is neglected in routine medical history taking. This calls for urgent action to include PA teaching as a priority in UK medical school teaching. PMID: 23757677 [PubMed - in process]
Source: British Journal of Sports Medicine - Category: Sports Medicine Authors: Tags: Br J Sports Med Source Type: research