Two new studies appearing in Tuesday's issue of the journal Radiology suggest more physicians should take this approach.
Although both cadres of HCPs accepted responsibility for implementing TDT in this study, in the South African PHC context, physicians take on more complex patients compared to PHC nurses, and, in the context of heavy patient loads, this may result in doctors' relegating their counselling role to nurses.
One area of difference we identified was that when teaching trainees, physicians take a much more active role in setting the objectives for learning.
"Then vitamin firms were bought up by pharmaceutical firms, and it wasn't long before more physicians were taking more vitamins than prescribing them.
Future physicians, take note.
In one study, physicians took more action on the patient-reported categories listed in the chart of the experimental group as compared to the control group (73% and 68.5%, respectively) [ 64].
For future research we recommend the development of a far more extensive network of physicians, taking into account that only a limited number will actually participate and refer patients.
"I think you will probably see from this physicians taking obesity more seriously, counseling their patients about it," said Morgan Downey, an advocate for obese people and publisher of the online Downey Obesity Report.
For some others, though, it was thought best that physician take a more paternalistic role, protecting patients from harming themselves or being defrauded of their time and money.
Forty-two physicians took part in our survey.
