Cross‐Sectional Study of U.S. Interns' Perceptions of Clinical Nutrition Education

Abstract

Background Medical students have historically perceived a lack of training in clinical nutrition. Rapid advances in medical science have compelled significant changes in medical education pedagogy. It is unclear what effect this has had on student's perceptions. Objective To assess interns' perception of clinical nutrition education during medical school. Design A cross-sectional survey of medical, surgical, and obstetric interns from 6 academic hospitals across the United States during the middle of their first year in November of 2010 (n = 289). Bivariate analysis and logistic regression was used to describe interns' perceptions and evaluate for factors that determined these perceptions. Results A total of 122 interns responded to the survey, for a response rate of 42%. These interns represented 72 different medical schools. Only 29% of interns reported they had been sufficiently trained in nutrition. On average, interns who reported being prepared reported a mean of 4 ± 3.4 weeks of training during medical school, while unprepared interns reported a mean of 2 ± 2.6 weeks of training (P = .02). Interns with prior graduate training in nutrition (n = 18) almost exclusively reported that medical school training was insufficient (94%, P = .02). After adjusting for age, gender, internship, undergraduate training, and being a foreign graduate, only the number of weeks of training remained significantly associated with perceived preparation (P = .03). Conclusion Most interns in medicine, surgery, and obstetrics feel unprepared to handle cases requiring knowledge of clinical nutrition. Interns feel that medical school is not adequately preparing them for the needs of clinical practice.

Are doctors nutritionists? What is the role of doctors in providing nutrition advice?

“…; Frantz et al . ). A recent study from Ghana explored medical students’ opinions on nutrition education within medical curriculum (Mogre et al .…”

“…Globally, medical curricula have been described as lacking sufficient nutrition education (Daley et al 2016;Frantz et al 2016;Mogre et al 2018). A lack of nutrition education within medical training has been highlighted as a major barrier for doctors to provide nutrition advice (Ball et al 2010;Cuerda et al 2017;Kahan & Manson 2017).…”

“…A lack of nutrition education within medical training has been highlighted as a major barrier for doctors to provide nutrition advice (Ball et al 2010;Cuerda et al 2017;Kahan & Manson 2017). Studies in the US have described nutrition education within medical degrees as insufficient and highlighted the lack of standardised competencies, resulting in nutrition education ranging across medical programmes from none, to short lectures, to nutrition rotations (Daley et al 2016;Frantz et al 2016). A recent study from Ghana explored medical students' opinions on nutrition education within medical curriculum (Mogre et al 2018).…”

Atitudes e Conhecimentos de Estudantes de Medicina sobre Nutrição Clínica

“…Para analisar a atitude, as respostas utilizaram uma escala Likert de cinco pontos, variando de "discordo fortemente" até "concordo fortemente", com base no instrumento Nips. A terceira parte do instrumento incluiu 20 questões adaptadas do instrumento utilizado por Vetter et al 23 e Frantz et al 11 em suas pesquisas, respectivamente, com o objetivo de avaliar conhecimentos sobre nutrição clínica. As respostas às questões sobre atitudes foram classificadas em positivas, negativas ou neutras de acordo com a pontuação atribuída pela escala Likert.…”

“…as justificativas citadas estaria o tempo reduzido dedicado ao ensino de nutrição, tornando inadequado o preparo para fornecer o apropriado aconselhamento clínico [10][11][12][13] . Assim, avaliar e melhorar continuamente o ensino de nutrição clínica em escolas médicas também consiste em investir na construção de recursos humanos capacitados para intervir na promoção à saúde e prevenção de doenças não comunicantes em países desenvolvidos e naqueles em desenvolvimento 2,14,15 .…”