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Post by Megan Mikesell on Oct 4, 2016 15:00:24 GMT
I really enjoyed watching this lecture. Nutrition has always been a passion of mine and I think health education is a key component of our healthcare system. Everything begins with education. That can be related to the importance of home-ec type classes teaching basic life skills, in this situation cooking and healthy eating or even budgeting. You can also relate this to medical school education. There is very little taught about nutrition, talking to patients about healthy eating, or the programs available to those patients. Some schools, such as New York University School of Medicine and Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago have begun nutrition and cooking classes to better equip future doctors with information and skills they can pass onto their patients. I think that even having a few lectures on health eating, diets for diabetics and obese individuals, food availability and insecurity, the costs of food, and even a cooking class would be extremely beneficial. There is room in the curriculum if the schools wanted to implement it, such as during what TTUHSC calls our P3 weeks.
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Post by Lex Hurley on Oct 10, 2016 0:10:39 GMT
Megan, I had no idea that students in medical school would not have any required nutrition courses -- if even just enough to be aware of the signs and causes of possible anemia or zinc deficiencies. Part of me wonders if the reason our medical school does not offer any nutrition courses to its medical students would be to avoid the appearance of infringing upon the specialties of registered dieticians and the like; or possibly because one assumes that any hospital will have their own RDs/etc. I'm obviously enrolled in medical school myself, but I definitely agree that nutrition classes should be offered at least as an elective whenever students would have spare time in their schedules.
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Post by ghannaba on Oct 10, 2016 1:49:42 GMT
Lex,
If that was the case, then physicians technically wouldn't then be able to be able to manage respiratory status of a patient as it would be 'infringing' upon the area of expertise of RTs. I get what you are saying, and currently, the US Healthcare system incentivizes physicians not to spend time discussing diet and exercise and making such plans with their patients. Thankfully, the payment models are being changed and adjusted, as I don't think just spending 5 mins with a physician 15-30 with a dietician are enough for ANYONE to follow some of the strict diets we recommend. Thankfully patients with similar disease have made forums or support groups to discuss diet practices ad hoc (say for diabetes or gluten intolerance). The fundamental failing of the American medical education system as a whole involves not equipping physicians with some principles of nutrition. Much like the subsidy issue, however, Im sure there are more forces at play here than just what it seems on the surface.
Megan,
How likely do you think students would select the P3 elective for such courses? Maybe the more important option would be something like this as a topic: "Practicing Culturally Relevant Medicine" and include issues like we have discussed so far like nutrition, food security/insecurity, exercise limitations (walking/running/outdoor activities in neighborhoods considered unsafe) and those sort of things. I know until I really started asking questions about what patients did for exercise and what they think adequate exercise is that I was not doing patients a service by saying "ok, so exercise 30mins 3xs a week and blah blah blah" when the patient doesn't have the facilities to work out beyond being in their home.
Really good discussion points though from you both. I remember saying these very words 4 years ago, and yet, here we are and no changes were ever made. I guess I don't squeak loud enough as a wheel to get any grease....Plus TBH, I would just then turn and focus back on studies, grades, and Step.
GH
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Post by Megan Mikesell on Oct 11, 2016 2:28:02 GMT
I think we should make these nutrition classes mandatory, at least some of them. This way every medical student is at least exposed to basic nutrition and like you said culturally relevant medicine topics that we have been exposed to in public health lectures. If students would like to go beyond that and take more detailed elective lectures or cooking classes during P3 weeks then they can have the option to do so. For those that have not heard of P3, it is a week of random topics held between each core block. The schedules during this week are very light and many of the topics students do not feel are important and view them as a waste of time. I did a project during my first two years of medical school on nutrition and had a local nutritionist and a registered dietician come talk to students for an hour. Everyone seems really interested in it and I think if it was offered to each class every year it would be beneficial to patients in the long run.
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Post by Summre Blakely on Oct 12, 2016 2:57:46 GMT
I am not in medical school as of yet, but I am currently applying. However, I think it is so very interesting that even though I am considered more highly educated than most, I haven't really started to learn about nutrition and cooking until last year. I was blessed with parents that schooled me a little on cooking, but for the most part I had to self educate from pinterest and food network tv. Most people might not have time or the funds to go out and spend to practice cooking skills. Also, I found that even being a biology major in undergrad and going to a fairly affluent high school, I had to reach out myself and find resources with which to educate myself. How does a person under the poverty line with many children and a full time job manage to do that for themselves? They have higher priorities like earning enough money to fund their next meal and watching their kids. As for nutrition classes in medical school, I have to say that Greg has a good point. As an aspiring doctor myself who geeks out over anything medical, I would probably choose a more medically-focused elective than a nutrition class. So, like Megan says, I think a mandatory class would be superb. But, don't stop there! Take it to undergraduate education too! These people are supposed to be better off than many Americans who don't have the means to obtain a college degree, and therefore they should have the resources to provide for themselves and teach others. Even further, we should bring back the popularity of home ec classes in high school. I know funding is a huge ordeal to mess with, but these are skills that every adult should know, not just doctors!
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