A program for teaching residents to provide dietary counseling for hypercholesterolemic patients

Abstract

Investigations of physician instruction in management of hypercholesterolemia and dietary counseling are few. Therefore, an educational program was designed to teach residents a simple and brief dietary counseling strategy for hypercholesterolemic patients. This article describes the program and discusses its feasibility and acceptability. The program, based on principles of adult learning and Bandura''s self‐efficacy theory, was conducted at eight medical centers and involved 79 internal medicine and pediatric resident physicians. A variety of educational materials were used in two 1‐hr sessions emphasizing resident use of behavioral modification techniques and addressing self‐efficacy issues. Evaluation forms, completed by 91% of the participants, demonstrated excellent acceptance of the program and the perceived usefulness of the educational materials. Hypercholesterolemia is a major health problem, and a need for physician education is clear. Our feasible and generalizable program would be a beneficial addition to many residency‐training curricula.