Envisioning nutrition teaching as a three-course meal: a blended approach to knowledge, application and assessment

Medical students receive inadequate training in nutrition counselling, but the best way to teach this topic is unknown. To address this research gap, we developed a longitudinal blended programme - combining physical classroom experiences with online education - to teach nutrition counselling in a primary care clinical course. The learning experience comprised a pre-class online module to convey knowledge; a formative, ungraded standardised patient exercise on dietary modification to practise skills; and a written exam on nutrition knowledge and an Objective Structured Clinical Exam assessing nutrition counselling skills. We likened this three-part curriculum to a complete meal, with its self-paced online 'appetiser', in-class 'entrée' of clinical practice with patients, and 'dessert' of an assessment. We ascertained feasibility, discovered positive student reactions, and, via exam performance analysis, noted achievement of the learning objectives. This three-course meal model can be applied to any learning experience that teaches and assesses skills.