Nutrition Education in U.S. Medical Schools: Latest Update of a National Survey

Abstract

Purpose To quantify the number of required hours of nutrition education at U.S. medical schools and the types of courses in which the instruction was offered, and to compare these results with results from previous surveys. Method The authors distributed to all 127 accredited U.S. medical schools (that were matriculating students at the time of this study) a two-page online survey devised by the Nutrition in Medicine Project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From August 2008 through July 2009, the authors asked their contacts, most of whom were nutrition educators, to report the nutrition contact hours that were required for their medical students and whether those actual hours of nutrition education occurred in a designated nutrition course, within another course, or during clinical rotations. Results Respondents from 109 (86%) of the targeted medical schools completed some part of the survey. Most schools (103/109) required some form of nutrition education. Of the 105 schools answering questions about courses and contact hours, only 26 (25%) required a dedicated nutrition course; in 2004, 32 (30%) of 106 schools did. Overall, medical students received 19.6 contact hours of nutrition instruction during their medical school careers (range: 0–70 hours); the average in 2004 was 22.3 hours. Only 28 (27%) of the 105 schools met the minimum 25 required hours set by the National Academy of Sciences; in 2004, 40 (38%) of 104 schools did so. Conclusions The amount of nutrition education that medical students receive continues to be inadequate.

Providing Nutrition Care to Patients with Chronic Disease: An Irish Teaching Hospital Healthcare Professional Study

“…Low levels of confidence were reported in areas such as promoting suitable food or nutrition goals, monitoring food consumption, translating the Irish food pyramid into practical advice, and formulating meal plans. Previous studies have similarly shown low confidence in nutrition knowledge and skills [19][20][21][22][23]. It was also clear from the findings that previous nutrition education experiences are important in affecting confidence about nutrition care, with those who reported previous education in nutrition having more confidence in certain areas of their knowledge and skills.…”

An Analysis of California Pharmacy and Medical Students’ Dietary and Lifestyle Practices

“…We also investigated whether students adhered to behaviors consistent with current dietary and exercise guidelines 14,15 and explored potential barriers to adopting a healthy lifestyle. Given the limited exposure of health care professional students to required nutrition curriculum, 13,16 we hypothesized that the dietary practices of pharmacy and medical students in this study would not meet current dietary and lifestyle guidelines, and that lack of time and nutritional knowledge would be the main impediments to healthful habits in these individuals.…”

A Novel Nutrition Medicine Education Model: the Boston University Experience

“…(See Supplemental Table 1. ) For the past 2 decades, educators used the concept of number of hours of nutrition instruction for the 4-y period (7,24) and the USMLE step 1 nutrition subscores (10,11,14,25) to evaluate improvement in nutrition education among medical schools in the United States. Although we were only able to identify a little >20 h dedicated to nutrition in the preclerkship years, we observed that most of our nutrition preclerkship curriculum objectives were covered during the 4-y period using CurrMIT as well as students and course directors' feedback.…”

“…Healthy People 2010 (2) and the US Preventive Services Task Force (3) have recommended that physicians provide nutritional assessment and counseling to their patients, which should require at least 25 h of nutrition education as part of the standard medical curriculum (4,5). Although physicians recognize deficiencies in nutrition knowledge and a lack of confidence in providing effective counseling (6), a recent survey from the University of North Carolina reported minimal improvements in U.S. medical schools in the past decade (7). As a result, a summit was organized by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition to address the shortage of physician nutrition specialists and nutrition medicine education in US medical schools (8,9).…”

“…Given the study findings on nutrition medicine education in the past few decades (6,7), reports from medical students at Boston University School of Medicine on their perception of nutrition medicine education, concerns about their knowledge in nutrition and obesity medicine, as well as concerns regarding their preparedness to counsel patients, it was critical to conduct a curricular assessment and create a Nutrition Vertical Integration Group (VIG) 7 .…”