Department of Kinesiology, College of Public Health, Temple University, 237 Pearson Hall, 1800 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Department of Public Health, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.
BMC Med Educ. 2023 Jan 23;23(1):54. doi: 10.1186/s12909-023-04044-3.
Chronic diseases account for approximately 70% of deaths in the U.S. annually. Though physicians are uniquely positioned to provide behavior change counseling for chronic disease prevention, they often lack the necessary training and self-efficacy. This study examined medical student interest in receiving chronic disease prevention training as a formal part of their education as part of an effort to enhance their ability to provide guidance to patients in the future.
A 23-question, online survey was sent to all undergraduate medical students enrolled in a large medical education program. The survey assessed medical student interest in receiving training related to chronic disease prevention. Survey topics included student awareness of primary prevention programs, perceived importance of receiving training and applied experience in chronic disease prevention, and preferences for how and when to receive this training.
Of 793 eligible medical students, 432 completed the survey (54.5%). Overall, 92.4% of students reported receiving formal training in physical activity, public health, nutrition, obesity, smoking cessation, and chronic diseases was of "very high" or "high" importance. Despite this level of importance, students most frequently reported receiving no or 1-5 h of formal training in a number of topics, including physical activity (35.4% and 47.0%, respectively) and nutrition (16.9% and 56.3%, respectively). The level of importance given to public health training was significantly greater across degree type (p = 0.0001) and future specialty (p = 0.03) for MD/MPH students and those interested in primary care, respectively.
While medical students perceive chronic disease prevention as an important topic, most reported receiving little to no formal training. To address the growing prevalence of chronic disease across our society, programs schools should place greater emphasis on integrating training in physical activity, nutrition, and obesity-related content into the medical education curriculum.
慢性疾病约占美国每年死亡人数的 70%。尽管医生在提供慢性病预防行为改变咨询方面具有独特的优势，但他们通常缺乏必要的培训和自我效能感。本研究调查了医学生对接受慢性病预防培训的兴趣，将其作为他们教育的正式组成部分，以提高他们未来为患者提供指导的能力。
一项 23 个问题的在线调查被发送给参加一个大型医学教育项目的所有本科医学生。该调查评估了医学生接受慢性病预防培训的兴趣。调查主题包括学生对初级预防计划的认识、对接受培训的重要性的感知以及在慢性病预防方面的应用经验，以及对接受这种培训的方式和时间的偏好。
在 793 名符合条件的医学生中，有 432 名完成了调查（54.5%）。总体而言，92.4%的学生报告接受过关于身体活动、公共卫生、营养、肥胖、戒烟和慢性病的正式培训，他们认为这些培训非常重要或很重要。尽管重要性如此之高，但学生最常报告在许多主题中没有接受过或只接受了 1-5 小时的正式培训，包括身体活动（分别为 35.4%和 47.0%）和营养（分别为 16.9%和 56.3%）。MD/MPH 学生和对初级保健感兴趣的学生，其对公共卫生培训的重视程度在学位类型（p=0.0001）和未来专业（p=0.03）方面存在显著差异。
虽然医学生认为慢性病预防是一个重要的话题，但大多数人报告只接受了很少或根本没有正式培训。为了应对我们社会中慢性病日益增多的趋势，学校应该更加重视将身体活动、营养和肥胖相关内容的培训纳入医学教育课程。
