Nutrition education in core medical curricula: a call to action from tomorrow's doctors.

In recent years lifestyle interventions have gained traction as increasingly useful ways to promote health among the population. Within these changes, nutrition remains paramount. We aimed to present an overview of the current status of nutrition education in UK undergraduate medical curricula, highlighting pockets of innovative teaching, alongside areas for improvement. Nutrition competency is outlined in General Medical Council Outcomes for Graduates, increasingly featured in mainstream headlines and relevant to each medical speciality. Drawing on our personal experiences we offer insights and suggestions on how the delivery and assessment of nutrition education could be improved. We believe that integrating nutrition into core curricula is urgently needed in order to increase students' and doctors' confidence in discussing the topic of nutrition with patients, with the aim to empower patients to make health promoting dietary changes.

Cross-sectional questionnaire study to gather the teaching preferences and expectations of UK undergraduate medical students for culinary medicine learning.

AIM: To determine undergraduate medical students' teaching preferences and expectations for Culinary Medicine (CM) learning with a view to informing development of a CM course at a UK medical school. SETTING: A single, urban UK medical school. PARTICIPANTS: 180 undergraduate medical students. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional questionnaire study collecting quantitative and qualitative (free-text) data. METHODS AND OUTCOME MEASURES: An online questionnaire consisting of 16 questions of various styles (Likert-type, multiple choice and free-text). Quantitative analysis of multiple choice and Likert-type scale questions was conducted. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyse the free-text responses and identify themes. RESULTS: Three core themes related to students' understanding of CM were identified: (1) 'CM Learning': students' perceived relevance of CM knowledge, perceived relevance of CM to healthcare and their expectations for teaching; (2) 'The Relationship between Food and Health': links between diet, social factors and health; and (3) 'Evidence-based Medicine': students' perceptions about scientific principles underlying CM. Quantitative analysis revealed that, although 83% of students felt that learning CM is important for their future clinical practice, 56% felt unable to take a dietary history. 73% of students were dissatisfied with the quality, and 78% were dissatisfied with the quantity, of existing medical school teaching understood to be relevant to CM. Topics that students would like to be taught on a CM course included weight management and portion control. Students felt that problem-based style learning would be the most appropriate method for delivering CM teaching. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that medical students felt their dietary counsulting skills could be improved with further clinically relevant teaching in the undergraduate medical curriculum. Students' preferences for CM learning have been taken into consideration in the development of a CM course for fifth-year undergraduate students at a UK medical school, which is delivered during their General Practice placement.

Not quite a doctor, but should I help? A qualitative exploration of medical students' attitudes towards responding to medical emergencies that occur in the public domain.

OBJECTIVE: To explore medical students' views on and experiences of responding to out-of-hospital medical emergencies. SETTING: University College London (UCL). PARTICIPANTS: 11 UCL Medical School students. STUDY DESIGN: Qualitative. METHODS AND OUTCOME MEASURES: We carried out 11 one-to-one semistructured interviews, with participant validation and reflective work. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Three core themes were identified. (1) 'We Did Debate a Bit: Should We Go? Should We Not?'-Students' decisions to respond were based on the appearance of the casualty; the presence and actions of bystanders; witnessing the incident; self-perceived competence, confidence and knowledge; and personal experiences and feelings associated with medical emergencies. (2) 'It Would Represent the Medical Profession Well if We Did Step In and Help'-Students felt that they had an ethical and/or professional duty to help. (3) 'No One Should Die Because of a Lack of… Basic Life-Saving Techniques'-Students felt that medical school training alone had not sufficiently prepared them to respond to out-of-hospital medical emergencies. Improvements to training were suggested: integrating first aid/response training into the horizontal (systems-based) modules; teaching both common and less common medical emergencies and presentations; training that is led by experienced first responders and that increases students' exposure to out-of-hospital medical emergencies; and providing more revision training sessions. CONCLUSIONS: Students felt that medical school training could be improved to better prepare them for responding to out-of-hospital medical emergencies, and wanted clarification on whether or not they have an ethical and/or professional duty to help. Further mixed-methods research using a larger sample needs to be carried out to confirm whether findings are transferable to other UK medical schools.