What doctors and patients are NOT talking about

The New York Times Well blog had an interesting article today about the issue that physicians and patients appear to not be talking about: a patient's weight. It is a difficult, but important, conversation to have. Weight plays a pivotal role in so many health issues. But physicians seem to not be bringing it up with their overweight patients. Some physicians may be embarrassed or may feel ill-equipped to make proper recommendations for weight loss. Some may just be discouraged that the advice will fall on deaf ears. Whatever the reason, failure to bring up this important health issues can have a real impact on the clinical relationship between physician and patient, as well as the interpersonal relationship. Patients know when they are overweight and if a physician doesn't bring it up or help discuss strategies for weight loss, the patient may feel like they are not getting the care they need. The weight-loss conversation may be difficult, but the alternative is worse.