Development and outcomes of an immersive obesity summit workshop for medical resident and fellow education

Physicians need better training to manage patients with obesity. Our study capitalized on the intimate nature of an extracurricular obesity workshop, creating an interactive educational programme. We assessed the short- and long-term impact of the workshop on trainees' knowledge, competence and confidence in caring for patients with obesity in an outpatient setting. This is a cross-sectional study, involving regionally diverse mix of resident and fellow physicians. A live 2.5-day continuing medical education summit was held 11 to 13 March 2016. Obesity-related topics were reviewed using state-of-the art pedagogical techniques. Pre-/post-levels of knowledge, competence and clinical practice strategies were analysed. Sixty-three candidates interested in additional obesity medicine training were nominated by US residency and fellowship programme directors and selected to attend the summit. On average, learners experienced a 110% relative increase in knowledge and competence. The overall effect size was 0.95, with participants being ~54% more knowledgeable about the management of patients with obesity. All participants self-reported that this activity increased their knowledge about the subject matter, improving their performance in caring for patients when asked about their practice in a follow-up survey 6 months following the workshop. This immersive summit promoted robust gains in knowledge and confidence, ultimately translating to reported practice improvements at the individual and health system levels. Future research is warranted on the sustainability of gained skills.