255579 Teaching medical students how to cook: An innovative approach towards nutrition education in a medical school curriculum

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 : 8:30 AM - 8:50 AM

Benjamin Leong, MS, MPH , The Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Dominique Monlezun, BA , The Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Layla Abu-Shamat, BA , The Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Danielle Kay, BS , The Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Timothy Harlan, MD , The Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
     
In a survey of 11 medical schools in the United States, Weinsier and colleagues report that 60% of graduating medical students felt that their nutrition education during medical school was inadequate. Additionally, students reported that nutrition education focused primarily on knowledge acquisition. The Tulane University School of Medicine (TUSOM) has started a teaching kitchen based nutrition curriculum offering healthy cooking and grocery shopping seminars in a kitchen setting supervised by chefs with a nutrition science background. This builds upon studies indicating that adequate facilitation rather than topic knowledge leads to more productivity in a small group setting. A teaching kitchen model for nutritional education bypasses the need for didactic teaching and empowers medical students to actively engage in small groups with regards to nutritional topics and actual application, while helping medical students develop the needed skills for one-on-one conversations with their future patients regarding lifestyle practices. Kreuter and colleagues report that physician-mediated advice regarding such practices catalyzes sustained patient change in diet and exercise. Through community service projects and small group seminars, the teaching kitchen based curriculum at TUSOM gives students the opportunity to learn nutrition in an innovative manner while potentially impacting community health outcomes in the present. The ultimate goal is for medical students to develop effective communication skills for their future careers in regards to healthy eating habits and convenient food preparation tips in order to provide future physicians with an additional resource to care for their future patients.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Chronic disease management and prevention
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs

Learning Objectives:
1. Compare a teaching kitchen based nutrition curriculum with status quo medical school nutrition curriculums; 2. Evaluate the effectiveness of a teaching kitchen model as a method to teach medical students how to provide nutrition information in an effective manner while in a clinical setting; 3. Describe the impact a medical school affiliated teaching kitchen can have in influencing community health outcomes; and 4. List the different components of a teaching kitchen based medical school nutrition curriculum.

Keywords: Nutrition, Community-Based Public Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the student coordinator for the teaching kitchen program at Tulane University School of Medicine.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5054.0: Integrating Nutrition into Medical and Dental Care and Training