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Children and adolescents with obesity are at higher risk of health complications in childhood and into adulthood but currently in Ireland children can only access multidisciplinary treatment in Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street. The Sláintecare funded project: Facilitating Integration of Childhood Obesity Services in Primary Care Through Education, was developed to address known gaps in health professional training and is led by Dr. Grace O’Malley, Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist and lead of the Obesity Research and Care Group in RCSI.
Through the delivery of free high-quality training the project aims to empower health professionals to develop their skills and improve access to care for children and adolescents with obesity. By improving health professional training, we can ensure that children receive a better user experience and experience less stigma from health professionals. Secondly, we aim to build health professional engagement and experience by enhancing clinical skillsets, addressing perceived communication barriers and low confidence, and establishing a community of practice.
This project was a collaboration between RCSI, Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street, the Association for the Study of Obesity on the Island of Ireland and a multidisciplinary team comprised of representatives from patient advocacy, medicine, physiotherapy, nursing, dietetics, psychology, health research, technology, and education.
The project team first tried to understand what health professionals need to improve their learning related to childhood obesity. Over 700 health professionals from all over Ireland replied and shared their perspectives. Thereafter, the team collaborated with colleagues in the Children’s Hospital at Westmead and the Department of Health in New South Wales, Sydney Australia to design and develop high quality educational courses for health professionals from multiple backgrounds. The W82GO Child and Adolescent Weight Management Service in CHI at Temple Street then partnered with LearnUpon to deliver the online training to health professionals.
Dr. O’Malley commented
“On behalf of our wonderful team, I am delighted to welcome health professionals working in Ireland to visit [external-link www.childhoodobesity.ie | www.childhoodobesity.ie ] and to register for the online course where they can earn up to 5 CPD points awarded by RCSI. We are excited and committed to implementing Sláintecare so that children with obesity can access quality care in the right place at the right time”.