The University of Sydney and Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA) collaborated to survey 17 of the 19 medical schools in Australia to assess how physical activity (PA) training is implemented across medical school curricula. The study found that almost half of all medical schools surveyed (42.9%) reporting the level of PA training was “insufficient” to prepare their students to provide physical activity counselling to their future patients.

Co-author Associate Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis said that many medical schools in Australia do not even teach the basic PA guidelines, the public guidelines endorsed by the Department of Health.

Chief Executive Officer of ESSA, Anita Hobson-Powell, said that given the relatively high level of Australian medical schools that provide PA training (88.2%), it’s surprising that only 60 percent of these programs believe their current level of training is adequate. And despite this apparent insufficiency, more than half of the programs reported having no plans to increase PA training in their future curriculums.

“Rather than always reaching for the pharmaceutical prescription pad, we should be training our doctors to refer patients to specialist exercise physiologists and encourage healthy lifestyle changes as a form of treatment,” said Ms Hobson-Powell.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners President Dr Bastian Seidel said that physical activity is the number one recommendation for the vast majority of chronic medical conditions GPs see on a daily basis.

“Evidence underpinning physical activity features prominently in the RACGPs curriculum of General Practice as well as in our exams and practice guidelines.

“Our focus is always to encourage patients to be physically active.

“What we want to achieve is nothing else but shifting the norm here, by giving pragmatic real word advice that reflects the capabilities of our patients.

“That’s why Australians see their GP at least once per year.”

The RACGP guidelines on physical activity are as follows:

• Clinical guidelines for preventive activities in general practice (section 7.5 – physical activity)
• National guide to a preventive health assessment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (physical activity section)
• General practice management of diabetes (section 6 – physical activity)
• Pedometers for increasing physical activity

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