Time for nutrition in medical education

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title>Aim</jats:title><jats:p>To synthesise a selection of UK medical students’ and doctors’ views surrounding nutrition in medical education and practice.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>Information was gathered from surveys of medical students and doctors identified between 2015 and 2018 and an evaluation of nutrition teaching in a single UK medical school. Comparative analysis of the findings was undertaken to answer three questions: the perceived importance of nutrition in medical education and practice, adequacy of nutrition training, and confidence in current nutrition knowledge and skills.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>We pooled five heterogeneous sources of information, representing 853 participants. Most agreed on the importance of nutrition in health (&gt;90%) and in a doctor’s role in nutritional care (&gt;95%). However, there was less desire for more nutrition education in doctors (85%) and in medical students (68%). Most felt their nutrition training was inadequate, with &gt;70% reporting less than 2 hours. There was a preference for face-to-face rather than online training. At one medical school, nutrition was included in only one module, but this increased to eight modules following an increased nutrition focus. When medical students were asked about confidence in their nutrition knowledge and on advising patients, there was an even split between agree and disagree (p=0.869 and p=0.167, respectively), yet few were confident in the UK dietary guidelines. Only 26% of doctors were confident in their nutrition knowledge and 74% gave nutritional advice less than once a month, citing lack of knowledge (75%), time (64%) and confidence (62%) as the main barriers. There was some recognition of the importance of a collaborative approach, yet 28% of doctors preferred to get specialist advice rather than address nutrition themselves.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>There is a desire and a need for more nutrition within medical education, as well as a need for greater clarity of a doctor’s role in nutritional care and when to refer for specialist advice. Despite potential selection bias and limitations in the sampling frame, this synthesis provides a multifaceted snapshot via a large number of insights from different levels of training through medical students to doctors from which further research can be developed.</jats:p></jats:sec>

Nutrition education in medical school: the case of international medical students in China

“…Much of medical training is offered as a practical apprenticeship; as such clinical nutrition practice might be improved among students with participatory integrated nutrition curriculum. 15 21 This suggests that medical students would pick up courses more when it is delivered in a more practical manner. This was also evident in the suggestions by students for improving the nutrition content of the curricula which have also been reported in other studies.…”

“…Data were collected solely through the administration of a semistructured questionnaire ( online supplementary file 1 ) modified from the Nutritank Medical Students Survey reported by Macaninch et al . 15 The rationale for modifications to the questionnaire was mainly to capture enough and precise information relevant to the goal of our survey. Consequently, the changes were mainly in the form of additions that were not in the original questionnaire but were necessary given the focus of our survey.…”

Medical students as agents of lifestyle medicine

“…For example, a recent UK study found that 71.5% of medical students and 81% of junior doctors had received less than 2 hours of nutrition teaching in the past year; in addition, 85% of students and 91% of doctors stated that they would welcome more nutrition education as part of their training. 3 In our experience, nutrition and other aspects of lifestyle medicine have been neglected in our medical programme. Despite the acknowledgement of lifestyle factors reducing the risk of developing many noncommunicable diseases, specific teaching on this topic has been non-existent in our medical education, forcing us to turn to self-directed learning.…”

Metabolic health and COVID-19: a call for greater medical nutrition education

“…A recent publication 3 highlights the pressing need for greater education on nutrition within medical curricula. It describes how more than 95% of medical students and doctors believe that doctors play a vital role in nutritional care, yet more than 70% reported that they received less than 2 h nutrition training while at medical school.…”

“…Barriers to increased medical nutrition education include already-full teaching schedules and limited student engagement, with only 68% of students believing that there is a need for increased nutrition education within their curriculum. 3 In the context of COVID-19, the importance of nutrition has only increased—we must overcome the barriers to greater medical nutrition education to improve the metabolic health of citizens.…”