Integration of Nutrition Curriculum into an Ambulatory Clerkship: Strategies for Competency-Based Assessment and...

The current deficiency of nutrition education in medical training has been well documented. Medical schools are increasingly exploring strategies to enhance their nutrition curriculum, but challenges of faculty time and clinical expertise can limit nutrition course development and implementation.

This study compared the effectiveness of integrating an asynchronous online medical nutrition curriculum developed by a national nonprofit with a nutrition program developed by the faculty at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in enhancing medical students' nutrition counseling abilities. Two cohorts of medical students participated in different versions of the "Eat for Health" curriculum during their Ambulatory Clerkship in 2023. Cohort 1 used the internally developed curriculum, while cohort 2 utilized The Gaples Institute online curriculum. After receiving the same additional in-person didactic, students in both groups documented counseling based on a standardized patient case. Thematic analysis of student responses identified competencies in patient care and communication skills. Chi-squared analysis compared thematic frequencies between cohorts.

One hundred eleven student forms were analyzed, with 61 (55%) from cohort 1 and 50 (45%) from cohort 2. Thematic analysis identified 17 subthemes across two domains: patient care and interpersonal and communication skills. There were no differences between the two groups in 14 of the 17 subthemes.

Both curricula demonstrated similar effectiveness in facilitating core nutrition competency development. The integration of accessible online resources could address existing barriers to nutrition education, such as reducing faculty time burden. Our thematic assessment approach aligns well with recently released national nutrition competencies and can be implemented by educators regardless of their personal level of nutrition expertise.

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