Ensuring Competent Care Provision for Children and Adolescents With Obesity in the Primary Care Setting

Using guidelines from the Obesity Medical Education Collaborative (OMEC) of the Obesity Medicine Association, we highlight competencies needed for primary care health workers to manage obesity in children and adolescents. We discuss the training, policy, advocacy, and healthcare system requirements necessary for the development and maintenance of competent pediatric obesity care provision and to continuously monitor for quality improvement.

PubMed, EBSCO, Web of Science, the Harvard Library, Google, and ScienceDirect were queried from January 2019 to August 2024 using medical subject headings (MeSH) terms and keywords such as obesity, pediatric, healthcare worker, competencies, primary care, best practice with filters for age (birth to 19 years), and language (English).

Pediatric health workers in primary care settings must effectively (1) diagnose and manage obesity, (2) communicate with patients to promote engagement in improving health outcomes, (3) collaborate with specialists to implement treatment and address co-morbidities, and (4) commit to lifelong training and development within the field to maintain competent care provision. International, national, and regional professional organizations committed to pediatric health as well as health information industry experts (e.g., electronic health records) can assist in ensuring competencies are integrated into clinical care through policy and infrastructure supports to improve patient outcomes.

Early and accurate diagnosis of obesity is critical to preventing and treating related co-morbidities and halting disease progression. Competencies in clinical and communication skills, team dynamics, and collaborative care are required throughout the lifelong learning process for successful treatment of pediatric obesity.