Advancing nutrition education: Harvard medical student reflections on a scalable online course

Nutrition education remains limited in medical training, prompting recent national policy proposals for reform. Our intention was to assess the feasibility of implementing a condensed online nutrition course within the curriculum at Harvard Medical School and explore its influence on students' understanding of nutrition in clinical practice.

A condensed online clinical nutrition course developed by the nonprofit Gaples Institute was integrated into the Health Sciences & Technology track curriculum at Harvard Medical School. Four module knowledge assessments and written reflections ("Aha! Moments") were required. Qualitative analysis of reflections used thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns of meaning.

All students (n = 56) successfully completed the course, meeting the ≥ 80% passing threshold on each module assessment and submitting all reflections. Qualitative analysis identified three key themes: 1) deeper understanding of the impact of dietary factors on patient care and the social determinants of this relationship, including dispelling misinformation and appreciating the scale of dietary impacts; 2) greater sense of agency to integrate nutrition counseling into clinical practice; and 3) increased motivation to adopt healthier personal dietary habits. Over 75% of students completed the course in under 3 hours.

These findings highlight the feasibility of enhancing nutrition education in medical school despite curricular time constraints. The results describe a practical model that can inform efforts to advance nutrition training in medical education and help prepare physicians to address the burden of diet-related disease.