The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #40479

Irene L Martinez, MD¹, Alice A. Furumoto-Dawson, PhD², Hamid Husein, MD³, and David N Goldberg, MD¹. (1) Division of General Medicine, Cook County Hospital, Rush University, 1900 W. Polk Street, 9th Floor, Administration Building, Chicago, IL 60612, 312-633-7810, imartine@rush.edu, (2) Dept. Preventive Medicine & Dept. Health Studies, Rush Medical College & University of Chicago, Section of Epidemiology, 1700 W. Van Buren St., 4th Floor, Chicago, IL 60612, (3) Department of Family Practice, St. Elizabeth Hospital, 1431 N. Western Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622

This study is an evaluation of a nutritional educational program for medicine residents incorporated within a four-week ambulatory rotation at an urban public hospital in a clinic serving primarily older, urban African-Americans. The educational program included a seminar and clinical practicuum. The seminar was one and one-half hours in length and reviewed basic nutritional concepts, application of the Transtheoretical Model to brief dietary advice, and psycho-social aspects of eating. The clinical practicuum included three components: self-evaluation of each residents’ 24-hour diet; dietary counseling based upon a computer-analyzed 24-hour dietary recall; and tailored, brief advice to at least ten clinic patients per resident that focused on dietary fat, vegetables, or fruit intake. Pre/post tests were collected on 39 residents. The tests had three components: self-assessed knowledge and attitudes toward giving nutritional advice (5 items); nutritional knowledge with a focus on cancer and heart disease prevention (13 items, 20 points); and knowledge on stages-of-change (6 items). The residents assessed their knowledge of nutrition, ability to deliver advice, and utility of the Transtheoretical Model as improved (p<0.02, sign test). There was an increase in knowledge (11.8 pre, 14.1 post, p<0.001, t-test). There was no change in the residents’ (a) expectation of impact on dietary habits, (b) perception of time constraints in giving advice, (c) knowledge of stages-of-change. Medicine residents exposed to this innovative program demonstrated improved knowledge and self-assessed ability to deliver dietary advice.

Learning Objectives:

• To describe the curriculum of a training program embedded in an ambulatory medicine rotation teaching medical residents about basic concepts of nutrition and behavioral change.
• To evaluate the impact of the training program on knowledge of nutrition and attitudes toward brief, tailored dietary advice based upon a pre-post test.

Keywords: Health Education, Primary Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.