Step #8 Toward Being Trusted Facilities Where Physicians Refer Their Patients [Connecting Health Clubs to Healthcare Series]

Research conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health between May 2019 and February 2020 compiled data from physicians about characteristics of health & fitness centers/exercise professionals that they trust to refer their patients. Step #8 of a 10-step roadmap for health & fitness centers toward being trusted facilities where physicians refer their patients is:

Raise physicians’ awareness of your exercise professionals’ capabilities.

Exercise professionals equate education and certifications with experience and knowledge. But physicians prioritize other metrics as a proxy for experience and knowledge because they do not understand exercise professional credentialing. Increase physicians’ knowledge of your exercise professionals’ capabilities in working with different types of patient populations to change their exercise behavior.

I don’t think I have enough understanding of what it takes to be a credentialed trainer, so I don’t know that that would sway me as much as just somebody who was a good motivator for exercise. Physician

Bantham, A. (2020). Perspectives on Exercise Prescriptions/Referrals and Patient Exercise Behavior Change: A Mixed Methods Study of Physicians and Exercise Professionals (Doctoral dissertation).