🎙️This episode is sponsored by an unrestricted education grant from Eli Lilly Canada.

When obesity assessment starts and ends with BMI, important parts of the patient story can disappear.

In this episode, Dr. Roshan Abraham and Michelle McMillan speak with Dr. Denise Campbell-Scherer about what it takes to assess obesity with more clarity, more context, and more respect for the person seeking care using the Edmonton Obesity Staging System  and the 5A’s Framework.

In this episode

• Why BMI can be part of the clinical assessment, but should never stand in for the whole person

• How the Edmonton Obesity Staging System (EOSS) helps clinicians understand clinical severity, not just body size

• What the 4Ms can reveal about mental, mechanical, metabolic, and monetary drivers of obesity

• How a patient’s story can uncover barriers that a checklist may miss

• Why strength-based counselling can change the experience of care for both patients and clinicians

• How the 5As Team Tools can make obesity assessment more practical in primary care

• What it sounds like to speak with patients about weight concerns without blame, assumptions, or shame

Additional resources

• Free course: Obesity Assessment Essentials https://utm.guru/uqG2K 

• Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines https://utm.guru/uqG2M  

• Chapter: Primary Care and Primary Healthcare in Obesity Management https://utm.guru/uqG2N 

• Edmonton Obesity Staging System https://utm.guru/uqG27 

• Dr. Campbell-Scherer’s 5As Team Tools https://utm.guru/uqG3j 

Calibre: Practical Clinical Strategies for Obesity Management

If this episode leaves you thinking about how to strengthen your own approach to obesity care, Obesity Canada’s Calibre course is designed to help.

Calibre is an accredited course for healthcare professionals who want practical, evidence-based tools they can apply in real clinical settings. The course combines self-paced learning with live, interactive sessions, helping learners build confidence in obesity assessment, treatment, communication, and patient-centred care.

The next cohort runs September 3 through October 7.

Learn more & register: https://utm.guru/uqG4F 

Learning Objectives

• Apply the Edmonton Obesity Staging System (EOSS) to determine the clinical severity of obesity and prioritize individualized management strategies.

• Analyze the mental, mechanical, metabolic, and monetary (4Ms) drivers of a patient's obesity to move beyond BMI-centric assessments.

• Evaluate how utilizing the EOSS framework reduces systemic weight bias by shifting clinical focus from weight loss to meaningful health outcomes and functional stewardship.

• Apply a patient-centered approach to establish values-based goals and assess obesity classification (BMI/waist circumference), while respecting patient readiness and comfort during the initial clinical encounter.

• Analyze the mental, mechanical, metabolic, and monetary (4Ms) framework to comprehensively evaluate adiposity-related complications and root causes of weight gain.

• Evaluate disease severity using the Edmonton Obesity Staging System (EOSS) to prioritize patient-centered management for patients living with obesity

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Disclosures:

This episode script was developed using NotebookLM to synthesize complex source materials into a structured educational format. The tool was used to analyze the Canadian Obesity Education Competencies (COECs), the Obesity Canada Strategic Plan, and guest-specific research. Specific prompts were utilized to extract relevant learning objectives, map them to CanMEDS roles, and generate competency-based interview questions.

While NotebookLM assisted in drafting the narrative arc and educational framework, all content has been reviewed, fact-checked, and refined by the podcast hosts and Obesity Canada's clinical experts. This ensures the script aligns with current Clinical Practice Guidelines and authentically represents the lived experience perspective.