Introduction
Currently, Body Mass Index (BMI) is the standard accepted measure to classify obesity. Obesity is a public health issue that is characterized by having an excessive amount of body fat where the BMI is above 30 (De Lorenzo et al., 2019). Unfortunately, the current healthcare environment in which primary care practices are allotted limited resources and time, thus leaving those affected by obesity drastically underserved or sometimes not served at all.
Discussion
There may also be reduced access to specialty treatments and social support due to factors such as cost, insurance barriers, or medical obstacles to receiving needed care. It is always possible to treat weight reduction with a self-management program that focuses on BMI, nutrition, exercise, and planned follow-up visits. To ensure the consistency of these interventions, the medical assistant would be in charge of entering each patient’s self-management efforts into the electronic health record. My projects aim at treating obesity through self-management programs focused on exercise, diet, BMI, and follow-ups.
The goal of my project is to treat obesity in a primary care setting, thus reducing the individual and social health burden that obesity poses. This includes developing a more comprehensive understanding of risk factors for obesity, targeting interventions toward high-risk populations, and fostering positive behavior change for individuals. Primary care providers conduct health promotion, and provide optimal opportunities for education, evaluation, and consultation with patients on healthy behaviors and lifestyle intervention strategies to reduce the progression of weight gain (Semlitsch et al., 2019). A focus on preventive measures such as healthy nutrition and physical activity can play an essential role in mitigating the impact of obesity on both individuals and society.
Additionally, the purpose of this project is to find solutions for obesity through self-management programs focused on diet, BMI, follow-ups, and exercise. This purpose is key since obesity is a serious problem that threatens human life. Obesity can lead to health complications, ranging from cardiovascular diseases to type II diabetes, both of which significantly reduce life expectancy (Huebschmann et al., 2019). According to Ramos Salas et al. (2019), individuals who are obese experience higher levels of depression, making it more difficult for them to make healthier choices in their day-to-day lives. Although genetics may factor in an individual’s propensity to gain weight, the major cause is poor nutrition and an inactive lifestyle. That is why obesity prevention needs to focus on changing these aspects by providing education and resources that aid individuals in developing healthier habits at every stage of life.
This project is on treating obesity through self-management programs and focuses on BMI, diet, exercise, and follow-ups which are critical and related to nursing practice. Nurses can use their educational background to explain the dangers of obesity and motivate individuals to adhere to these lifestyle changes that are necessary for health improvement. It is equally the nurses’ responsibility to provide evidence-based education so that the patient can gain insight into how diets and habits may be modified to reach their health goals. By monitoring BMI, providing nutritional education about healthy eating habits, teaching about physical activity guidelines for weight management, and scheduling follow-up visits to track progress, nurses can treat obesity (Kaveh & Peyrovi, 2019). Focusing on those four aspects, nurses can similarly prevent future obesity occurrences and long-term success in managing it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this project aims at reducing obesity-related complications among patients. Obesity is a leading cause of preventable death, and it imposes a significant burden on patients and society as a whole. The project is designed to reduce this burden by improving the treatment of obesity. I believe self-management programs focused on BMI, diet, exercise, and follow-ups are the best ways to treat obesity because they allow patients to manage their health and make healthy changes that can last a lifetime. These programs provide people with the capacity to develop healthy habits that can prevent obesity from developing in the first place.
References
De Lorenzo, A., Gratteri, S., Gualtieri, P., Cammarano, A., Bertucci, P., & Di Renzo, L. (2019). Why primary obesity is a disease? Journal of Translational Medicine, 17(1), 1-13. Web.
Huebschmann, A. G., Huxley, R. R., Kohrt, W. M., Zeitler, P., Regensteiner, J. G., & Reusch, J. E. (2019). Sex differences in the burden of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk across the life course. Diabetologia, 62(10), 1761-1772. Web.
Ramos Salas, X., Forhan, M., Caulfield, T., Sharma, A. M., & Raine, K. D. (2019). Addressing internalized weight bias and changing damaged social identities for people living with obesity. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1409. Web.
Semlitsch, T., Stigler, F. L., Jeitler, K., Horvath, K., & Siebenhofer, A. (2019). Management of overweight and obesity in primary care—A systematic overview of international evidence‐based guidelines. Obesity Reviews, 20(9), 1218-1230. Web.
Kaveh, O., & Peyrovi, H. (2019). Exploring Iranian obese women’s perceptions of barriers to and facilitators of self-management of obesity: A qualitative study. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 8(11), 3538. Web.