Key result
Among surveyed Canadian Internal Medicine physicians, 60.2% reported regular exercise prescription, with lack of resources, time, and training identified as main barriers.
Why the study?
Internal Medicine physicians play a key role in prescribing exercise for chronic disease management, but their exercise prescription practices, barriers, and facilitators needed investigation.
What are the exercise prescription practices, barriers, and facilitators among Internal Medicine physicians?
Cross-Sectional (n=108)
No
What are the exercise prescription practices, barriers, and facilitators among Internal Medicine physicians?
About 40% of internal medicine physicians do not regularly prescribe exercise, highlighting a need for resources, time, and training to improve practices.
Survey data show ~40% of IM physicians do not regularly prescribe exercise; leaves open whether addressing time, training, and resource barriers increases uptake.
Background: Internal Medicine (IM) physicians are in a prime role to prescribe exercise for chronic disease management. Our main objectives were to investigate the exercise prescription (EP) practices of IM physicians, and identify barriers and facilitators to EP. Methods: We emailed a confidential 16-item survey to 194 IM physicians practicing in the Central Zone of the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA). The survey software Opinio was used for data collection and descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 108 IM physicians completed the survey (response rate = 55.7%). Sixty-five participants reported regular EP (60.2%). The main barriers to EP were lack of resources, time, and training. Facilitators included having patient education materials and EP pads available. Interpretation: Although most participants reported that exercise was important for chronic disease management, about 40% did not report regularly prescribing it. Enabling facilitators and addressing barriers may improve EP practices for this group of IM physicians.
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Kuhnow et al. (2021) conducted a cross-sectional in Internal Medicine physicians (n=108). Exercise prescription practices was evaluated on Regular exercise prescription. Among surveyed Canadian Internal Medicine physicians, 60.2% reported regular exercise prescription, with lack of resources, time, and training identified as main barriers.
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