Introduction
Each decade, the US obesity epidemic continues to worsen, and the poor diets of many Americans continue to contribute to chronic disease development and increase mortality[1, 2, 3]. Physicians remain a trusted source of health and wellness information for much of the general population, and thus are particularly well-positioned to educate patients on good dietary practices. However, many physicians feel insufficiently prepared to counsel their patients on nutrition, as fewer than one-third of medical schools provide the minimum 25 hours of nutrition education recommended by the National Research Council [6, 7]. Thus, ensuring that future physicians are adequately trained in nutrition counseling would be beneficial to the health of the American public.
We seek to investigate whether a brief seminar taught by a physician and a registered dietician nutritionist (RDN) will significantly bolster the nutritional knowledge of third-year medical students at the University of Michigan and provide students with the ability to confidently, effectively, and efficiently counsel patients on adopting a healthy diet.
Methods
Prior to this session, we distributed pre-validated surveys to each attendee, evaluating their baseline nutritional knowledge and level of comfort counseling patients on diet. A cardiologist/lipidologist and a registered dietician nutritionist then led an interactive presentation on nutrition counseling, emphasizing motivational interviewing models, providing general education, and teaching students practical counseling methods via patient vignettes. Students then completed repeat surveys directly following the session as well as 1 month later. Surveys were then analyzed to explore changes in student attitudes, knowledge, and readiness to counsel patients following this seminar.
Results
Overall, surveys demonstrated that the seminar had a positive impact on medical students’ ability to provide nutritional counseling, as demonstrated by a statistically significant improvement in knowledge and preparedness as assessed by pre- and post-session surveys. This change was sustained 1 month after the initial seminar.
Conclusions
The results of this pilot intervention demonstrate that a brief seminar on nutrition education, particularly designed to teach students to provide nutritional counseling, may be a valuable addition to medical curricula.
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