Programmed shared medical appointments for weight management in primary care: An exploratory study in translational research

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Programmed shared medical appointments (pSMAs) are an extension of shared medical appointments (SMAs) for managing chronic diseases. Acceptance and outcomes of a trial for weight management are reported here. METHOD: Six programmed sessions in weight management were carried out in seven NSW primary healthcare centres. RESULTS: Seventy-seven per cent of 216 participants (64 male, 102 female) completed at least four of six pSMAs over 16-18 weeks ('adherers'). Eighty-five per cent of adherers approved of pSMAs, and 73% said they would prefer these over a standard clinical consult. Providers also rated the process highly. Overall mean weight loss over 12 months was 3.2% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.2, 4.3; P <0.001). For adherers, mean weight loss was 4.3% for males (95% CI: 2.6, 6.1; P <0.001) and 4.2% for females (95% CI: 2.7, 5.7; P <0.001), with 46% of males and 35% of females maintaining clinically significant losses (>5%) after 12 months. pSMAs were calculated to be four times more cost effective and up to seven times more time effective than 1:1 consultations for weight loss. DISCUSSION: pSMAs are a popular, cost and time-effective adjunct to standard clinical management.