Effect of an integrated nutrition curriculum on medical education, student clinical performance, and student perception of medical-nutrition training

Taren, Douglas; Thomson, Cynthia A.; Koff, Nancy Alexander; Gordon, Paul; Marian, Mary; Bassford, Tamsen; Fulginiti, John V.; Ritenbaugh, Cheryl

doi:10.1093/ajcn/73.6.1107

Cited by 51 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Those involving professionals were generally shorter. The shortest intervention was a 1-hour intensive session for GPs and other healthcare professionals on the benefits of giving folic acid to women of child bearing age;52 the longest were two 4-year integrated nutrition curricula for medical students 3551 Inconsistent reporting of the length of interventions (including use of terms like credit hours) made it difficult to determine their average lengths.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Realist synthesis of educational interventions to improve nutrition care competencies and delivery by doctors and other healthcare professionals

et al. 2016

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ObjectiveTo determine what, how, for whom, why, and in what circumstances educational interventions improve the delivery of nutrition care by doctors and other healthcare professionals work.DesignRealist synthesis following a published protocol and reported following Realist and Meta-narrative Evidence Synthesis: Evolving Standards (RAMESES) guidelines. A multidisciplinary team searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC, EMBASE, PsyINFO, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Science Direct for published and unpublished (grey) literature. The team identified studies with varied designs; appraised their ability to answer the review question; identified relationships between contexts, mechanisms and outcomes (CMOs); and entered them into a spreadsheet configured for the purpose. The final synthesis identified commonalities across CMO configurations.ResultsOver half of the 46 studies from which we extracted data originated from the USA. Interventions that improved the delivery of nutrition care improved skills and attitudes rather than just knowledge; provided opportunities for superiors to model nutrition care; removed barriers to nutrition care in health systems; provided participants with local, practically relevant tools and messages; and incorporated non-traditional, innovative teaching strategies. Operating in contexts where student and qualified healthcare professionals provided nutrition care in developed and developing countries, these interventions yielded health outcomes by triggering a range of mechanisms, which included feeling competent, feeling confident and comfortable, having greater self-efficacy, being less inhibited by barriers in healthcare systems and feeling that nutrition care was accepted and recognised.ConclusionsThese findings show how important it is to move education for nutrition care beyond the simple acquisition of knowledge. They show how educational interventions embedded within systems of healthcare can improve patients’ health by helping health students and professionals to appreciate the importance of delivering nutrition care and feel competent to deliver it.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Realist synthesis of educational interventions to improve nutrition care competencies and delivery by doctors and other healthcare professionals

et al. 2016

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“…As an alternative, nutrition education has been incorporated into all four years of medical education at a number of institutions [23,24]. Preliminary evaluation of this approach suggests that students became knowledgeable about nutrition and were better able to address the nutritional needs of their patients than their counterparts in a traditional curriculum [24].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Do Resident Physicians Know about Nutrition? An Evaluation of Attitudes, Self-Perceived Proficiency and Knowledge

Vetter

Herring

Sood

et al. 2008

Journal of the American College of Nutrition

269

241

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Objective-Despite the increased emphasis on obesity and diet-related diseases, nutrition education remains lacking in many internal medicine training programs. We evaluated the attitudes, selfperceived proficiency, and knowledge related to clinical nutrition among a cohort of internal medicine interns.Methods-Nutrition attitudes and self-perceived proficiency were measured using previously validated questionnaires. Knowledge was assessed with a multiple-choice quiz. Subjects were asked whether they had prior nutrition training.Results-Of the 114 participants, 61 (54%) completed the survey. Although 77% agreed that nutrition assessment should be included in routine primary care visits, and 94% agreed that it was their obligation to discuss nutrition with patients, only 14% felt physicians were adequately trained to provide nutrition counseling. There was no correlation among attitudes, self-perceived proficiency, or knowledge. Interns previously exposed to nutrition education reported more negative attitudes toward physician self-efficacy (p = 0.03).Conclusions-Internal medicine interns' perceive nutrition counseling as a priority, but lack the confidence and knowledge to effectively provide adequate nutrition education.

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“…On the other hand, at least 1 school has reported that an integrated nutrition curriculum greatly increased the total hours of instruction and improved Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) nutrition scores and student satisfaction with nutrition instruction. 24 …”

Section: Nutrition Instruction In Medical School and Residency Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrition in Medicine

et al. 2010

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Proper nutrition plays a key role in disease prevention and treatment. Many patients understand this link and look to physicians for guidance diet and physical activity. Actual physician practice, however, is often inadequate in addressing the nutrition aspects of diseases such as cancer, obesity, and diabetes. Physicians do not feel comfortable, confident, or adequately prepared to provide nutrition counseling, which may be related to suboptimal knowledge of basic nutrition science facts and understanding of potential nutrition interventions. Historically, nutrition education has been underrepresented at many medical schools and residency programs. Our surveys over a decade show that most medical schools in the United States are still not ensuring adequate nutrition education, and they are not producing graduates with the nutrition competencies required in medical practice. Physicians, residents, and medical students clearly need more training in nutrition assessment and intervention. The Nutrition in Medicine (NIM) project, established to develop and distribute a core nutrition curriculum for medical students, offers a comprehensive online set of courses free of charge to medical schools. The NIM medical school curriculum is widely used in the United States and abroad. A new initiative, Nutrition Education for Practicing Physicians, offers an innovative online medical nutrition education program for residents and other physicians-in-training, but with targeted, practice-based educational units designed to be completed in 15 minutes or less. The NIM project is strengthening medical nutrition practice by providing a free, comprehensive, online nutrition curriculum with clinically relevant, evidence-based medical education for undergraduate and postgraduate learners.

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Effect of an integrated nutrition curriculum on medical education, student clinical performance, and student perception of medical-nutrition training

Abstract: Medical students improved their clinical nutrition practice skills through participation in an integrated nutrition curriculum.

Cited by 51 publications

References 24 publications

Realist synthesis of educational interventions to improve nutrition care competencies and delivery by doctors and other healthcare professionals

Realist synthesis of educational interventions to improve nutrition care competencies and delivery by doctors and other healthcare professionals

What Do Resident Physicians Know about Nutrition? An Evaluation of Attitudes, Self-Perceived Proficiency and Knowledge

Nutrition in Medicine

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