Survey of Nutrition Education in U.S. Medical Schools — An Instructor-Based Analysis

Abstract

Background: Recent reports on the state of nutrition in U.S. medical schools suggest that these schools are challenged to incorporate nutrition into an already full curriculum.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the current state of nutrition education in US medical schools based on information reported by individuals responsible for teaching nutrition to medical students.

Design: Between July 1999 and May 2000, we surveyed 122 U.S. medical and osteopathic schools. The survey was mailed to the nutrition educator at each institution; recipients could return the survey via mail, fax, or the web.

Results: The majority of the 98 medical schools responding to the survey provided nutrition education. In 90% of responding U.S. medical and osteopathic schools (representing 88 of 98 schools and over 65% of all institutions), all students were guaranteed exposure to nutrition. An average of 18 ± 12 hours of nutrition was required, including material integrated into other types of courses.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that nutrition education is an integral part of the curriculum of the majority of US medical schools surveyed. A number of medical schools have chosen to incorporate nutrition education into already established basic science and clinical courses.

Key words:

• Medical education
• nutrition education
• computer-assisted instruction
• curriculum
• medical students
• nutrition teaching
• nutrition in medicine.