Spotlight: St. Joseph Health Center's Dr. Jon Dooley on lessons learned in pediatric weight management

We asked Jon Dooley, MD FAAP, a pediatrician at St. Joseph Health Center - Pediatric Clinic to share his insight after participating in CTC-RI's 12-month learning collaborative on pediatric weight management, funded by Tufts Health Plan. The project aimed to help practices become better equipped to intervene and positively impact children with weight management concerns. 

Why did your practice apply to this learning collaborative, and what did you hope to gain?

We joined this awesome collaborative to enhance the way we approach weight management in our practice. By learning from local experts and engaging in group discussion, we gain insight on innovative ways to work together with our patients when tackling this difficult topic.

Through this work, what has been the most surprising, challenging, or helpful as you enhanced support for patients with weight management concerns?

One helpful takeaway thus far has been the importance of reminding patients about the ups and downs of eating habits, exercising, and weight management process. Explaining that setbacks are normal helps mitigate frustration and keeps patients on track instead of an all-or-nothing approach. Avoid extremes… small changes over time will add up to make a big difference.

What advice or lessons learned would you share with other pediatric practices interested in better supporting their patients in this area?

Find a way to relate to your patients when having the weight management discussion! Talking about weight is never fun… it is easy for our patients to feel judged or uncomfortable. Making a connection and letting your patients know they are not alone (instead of just lecturing them) helps to empower more change and increases the chances of continued engagement.