Medical students’ perceptions of nutrition in medical education and future practice

Keywords: medical education, nutrition, medical students, physicians, undergraduate, lifestyle medicineBackground: Physicians are relied upon as knowledgeable sources of nutrition information; however, many report low nutrition knowledge.Objective: The present study assessed first and second-year medical students’ perceptions of nutrition education within the medical curriculum, in terms of their attitudes, learned body of knowledge, and satisfaction.Methods: An online questionnaire was administered to Dalhousie University medical students completing their first or second year (N=125). Mann-Whitney U tests compared the responses of first-year to second-year students, as well as those with and without previous nutrition education.Results: 97.6% of respondents agreed that nutritional counselling can positively influence patient outcomes, with 91.2% agreeing that physicians play a key role in nutritional counselling. Compared to second-year students, first-year students had greater self-perceived knowledge of basic nutrition concepts (p<0.001) and nutrition in the treatment of disease (p=0.005), as did students with previous nutrition education compared to those without (p=0.019 and 0.018 respectively). Satisfaction was <30% agreement, with first-year students more satisfied with their nutrition education than second-year students (p<0.05).Conclusion: First and second-year medical students regard nutrition as an important component of medical practice that can positively impact patient outcomes. However, low satisfaction with their nutrition education suggests that additional nutrition curriculum would better prepare them for future practice.