Abstract
ABSTRACTGiven the economic burden and numerous morbidities associated with obesity and poor dietary choices, it is increasingly important for medical students to receive education on nutrition and preventive medicine so that they are equipped to advise patients about healthy lifestyle choices. Currently, 71% of US medical schools do not reach the minimum benchmark of 25 hours of nutrition education set by the National Academy of Sciences. In order to improve the quality and quantity of nutrition education at the Keck School of Medicine of USC (KSOM), medical students and faculty have partnered with LA Kitchen (LAK), a local teaching kitchen, and the Wellness Center at LA County Medical Center (LAC+USC). They developed a hands-on preclinical culinary and nutrition course that aims to teach students practical skills and knowledge that they will be able to apply to their own lives and pass onto patients. Following the completion of the first three years of the course (2016–2018), analysis suggests that the class was well-received and has improved students’ nutrition knowledge, confidence in lifestyle counseling, and personal culinary skills. Given these highly encouraging observations, the project is currently aimed at incorporating nutrition education more broadly into the required preclinical curriculum at KSOM.
Highlights
In a medical system increasingly burdened by obesity and its comorbidities, the onus is on the medical profession to educate the general population on proper nutrition and other preventive health practices
Pre-Course Median Post-Course Median z value p valued r Pre-Course Median Post-Course Median z value p value r Pre-Course Median Post-Course Median z value p value r aStudent confidence recorded on 0–4 Scale; survey available in appendix 1 bStudent confidence recorded on 0–3 Scale; survey available in appendix II cBoth Nutrition Knowledge and Food Identification on a scale from 0–100 dP Value
Student evaluations suggest that the course has been well-received and effective in improving student knowledge and general selfconfidence regarding nutrition (Table 1)
Summary
In a medical system increasingly burdened by obesity and its comorbidities, the onus is on the medical profession to educate the general population on proper nutrition and other preventive health practices. In 1985, a report by the National Research Council’s Committee on Nutrition in Medical Education recommended 25 hours of required nutrition instruction by medical schools [1]. Given the increasing scope of medically relevant nutrition knowledge and an increasingly overweight patient population in the intervening 33 years, it is reasonable to assume that this recommendation should be taken as a minimum requirement for medical schools. Only 18% of schools reported that their curriculum included a dedicated nutrition course. The consequences of this are far-reaching, as the literature supports that many doctors do not feel comfortable dealing with overweight and obese patients, nor are they comfortable with their clinical nutrition skills overall [4,5].
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