NP-led obesity clinics: a NP guided primary care approach for managing obesity in low income preschool-age children in Canada

Childhood obesity continues to increase at alarming rates despite health prevention efforts to date. New innovative approaches are needed to help address this public health concern. Moreover, current literature confirms that early childhood is a fundamental time for establishing life behaviors that will follow into adulthood thus, the early years are considered to be an essential stage for developing both an unhealthy weight and its precursor behaviors. Social circumstances including socioeconomic status greatly impact health and are notable risk factors for the development of obesity. Acknowledging sociological influences and working within these constructs helps to create programs and care plans that are contextual. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of nurse practitioners when working with low income families to address childhood obesity in the preschool-aged population in Canada, specifically within the setting of a NP-led obesity clinic. Literature to date does not exist for NP-led obesity clinics as this is a proposed approach to helping combat pediatric obesity. Existing literature regarding nurse-managed health centers and pediatric weight management programs were utilized to support the creation of a NP-led obesity clinic. Nurse-managed health centers have established that NPs are capable of providing appropriate medical treatment with positive health outcomes. Further, level of patient satisfaction and quality of care provided at nurse-managed health centers either met or exceeded national benchmarks for care. Pediatric weight management programs are in the infancy phase in Canada but have demonstrated positive weight management outcomes. Existing Canadian programs are informally evaluated to provide further support for the use of NP-led obesity clinics within the current Canadian health care system. This paper proposes that NP-led obesity clinics are a novel approach to help address childhood obesity within the primary care environment. --Leaf 2.