Burch Emily, Crowley Jennifer, Laur Celia, Ray Sumantra, Ball Lauren
a Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University , Gold Coast , Australia.
b Discipline of Nutrition and Dietetics , Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland , New Zealand.
J Am Coll Nutr. 2017 Aug;36(6):415-421. doi: 10.1080/07315724.2017.1318316. Epub 2017 Jun 19.
The provision of nutrition care by health professionals can facilitate improved patient nutrition behaviors. Some education institutions include nutrition in their medical curriculum; however, doctors and medical students continue to lack competence in providing nutrition care. Dietitians are increasingly teaching nutrition to medical students, yet evidence on the topic remains anecdotal. It is important to understand the experiences of these dietitians to support improvements in undergraduate medical nutrition education. The aim of this study was to explore dietitians' perspectives of teaching nutrition to medical students.
A qualitative study was conducted in collaboration with the Need for Nutrition Education/Innovation Programme (NNEdPro). Twenty-four dietitians who had provided nutrition education to medical students participated in individual semistructured interviews. Participants were from Australia (n = 5), New Zealand (n = 1), the United States (n = 6), Canada (n = 5), the United Kingdom (n = 5), Germany (n = 1), and Finland (n = 1). Data analysis was conducted using a constant comparative approach to thematic analysis.
The dietitians expressed confidence in their ability to teach medical students and believed that they were the most appropriate professionals to administer the education. However, they were not confident that medical students graduate with sufficient nutrition competence and attributed this to poor curriculum planning for nutrition. Dietitians had access to useful resources and tools to support education, with opportunity to contribute further to integration of nutrition throughout medical curricula.
This study suggests that dietitians are likely appropriate nutrition teachers in medical education. However, optimizing dietitians' role requires their further involvement in curriculum planning and development. Including dietitians as members of medical faculty would facilitate their input on nutrition throughout the curriculum, which could enhance the nutrition education of medical students.
卫生专业人员提供营养护理有助于改善患者的营养行为。一些教育机构在其医学课程中纳入了营养内容；然而，医生和医学生在提供营养护理方面仍缺乏能力。营养师越来越多地向医学生传授营养知识，但关于这一主题的证据仍然是轶事性的。了解这些营养师的经历对于支持本科医学营养教育的改进很重要。本研究的目的是探讨营养师对向医学生传授营养知识的看法。
与营养教育/创新需求计划（NNEdPro）合作进行了一项定性研究。24名曾向医学生提供营养教育的营养师参加了个人半结构化访谈。参与者来自澳大利亚（n = 5）、新西兰（n = 1）、美国（n = 6）、加拿大（n = 5）、英国（n = 5）、德国（n = 1）和芬兰（n = 1）。采用持续比较法进行主题分析。
营养师对自己向医学生授课的能力表示有信心，并认为他们是实施该教育的最合适专业人员。然而，他们对医学生毕业时具备足够的营养能力没有信心，并将此归因于营养课程规划不佳。营养师可以获得有用的资源和工具来支持教育，并有可能进一步为将营养融入整个医学课程做出贡献。
本研究表明，营养师可能是医学教育中合适的营养教师。然而，优化营养师的角色需要他们进一步参与课程规划和开发。将营养师纳入医学教师队伍将有助于他们在整个课程中对营养方面提供意见，这可以加强医学生的营养教育。
