Abstract
Background: Dietitians and other health care professionals must be able to translate findings from clinical trials into best treatment practices, a skill termed “knowledge translation”. This skill requires knowledge of treatment guidelines as well as the science underpinning treatment recommendations. Unsatisfactory knowledge translation of medical nutrition therapy (MNT) has been documented. Methods: Individuals registered to attend a leading national nutrition conference were asked to participate in an online cross-sectional survey. Participants were asked to provide demographic and professional information, answer questions on nutrition knowledge and to choose a clinical action plan in response to dietitian-designed case vignettes describing research outcomes. Responses were compared by profession and participation in research activities. Results: Of 3000 registered conference attendees, 299 individuals replied: 79.0% dietitians, 93.3% female, with a mean household income matching the 5th decile of income, 60.7% indicated a single employment setting, 20.7% reported participating in research. Almost 74% of respondents indicated that they would make clinical recommendations based on findings of an in vitro study. In one vignette, a patient with a disease previously not encountered by the respondent required a clinical treatment plan. Only 53% of participants chose to seek formal nutrition guidelines. Fewer than 15% of participants could identify the pathway for fat during weight loss. Differences in knowledge translation skills by research participation were not detected. Conclusions: Our findings reveal a deficit in knowledge translation proficiency in a convenience sample of dietitians and other health professionals, highlighting the need to develop these skills.
Highlights
Knowledge translation (KT) is “the process of applying laboratory research to human studies and enhancing the adoption of evidence-based practices in real-world settings to reach broad populations material and methods” [1]
The objectives of the present study were (1) to assess KT skills, including both source knowledge and clinical practice, among dietitians and other health care professionals participating in a large, national Israeli nutrition conference and (2) to estimate associations between sociodemographic characteristics, self-reported participation in research and KT
Investigators sent an online survey to all dietitians and other health professionals registered to participate in a large, national nutrition conference
Summary
Knowledge translation (KT) is “the process of applying laboratory research to human studies and enhancing the adoption of evidence-based practices in real-world settings to reach broad populations material and methods” [1]. KT requires the necessary antecedents including a distilled, integrated source of knowledge This knowledge is derived from high-quality primary research (knowledge inquiry) [3], meaning the clinician must possess a comprehension of basic scientific underpinnings relevant to the question at hand. Dietitians and other health care professionals must be able to translate findings from clinical trials into best treatment practices, a skill termed “knowledge translation”. This skill requires knowledge of treatment guidelines as well as the science underpinning treatment recommendations. Participants were asked to provide demographic and professional information, answer questions on nutrition knowledge and to choose a clinical action plan in response to dietitian-designed case vignettes describing research outcomes. Conclusions: Our findings reveal a deficit in knowledge translation proficiency in a convenience sample of dietitians and other health professionals, highlighting the need to develop these skills
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