Doctors have ‘sparse or non-existent’ knowledge to enable them to promote physical activity to patients, says a report published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
The report is based on cirriculum information from all 31 medical schools across the UK. It found that only four medical schools (16%) included physical activity in each year of the undergraduate course and that five schools provided no training at all.
Government legacy plans for the London 2012 Olympics placed exercise as a key component of public health strategy but this report questions the ability of clinicians to adequately to deliver that plan.
The responses showed that the total amount of time spent on teaching physical activity was just four hours on average compared to 109 hours for pharmacology. The authors called for urgent action to train future doctors in how to effectively promote the benefits of physical activity.
bjsm.bmj.com
