The Lack of Nutritional Competency among the Medical Practitioners and Medical Students: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective: This systematic review addressed the effects of the competency level of medical students, physicians, and practitioners in nutrition education for optimum patient care. It also addresses the perceived inadequate didactic contact hours of nutrition education. Method: There were 55 studies selected, and 25 were used for this review including quantitative and qualitative studies. The data were divided into four groups: quantitative data, qualitative data, reports, and news articles.  The categorization of the literature was as follows: 17 quantitative, 2 qualitative, 4 news articles, 1 manual, and 1 symposium report. These were evaluated to produce a credible qualitative meta-analysis of available data. Data Sources: The systematic review used databases and citation indexes including Embosses, PubMed, JAMA Network, Medline, Elsevier, and Oxford Academics, these include journals, reports of Symposiums, and news articles to ascertain evidence-based data Results: The findings of this review revealed the significant effect inadequate contact nutrition education has on the competency level of medical students, physicians, and practitioners. Limitations: Limitations of this review include several external factors. Although universities are expected to implement approximately 44 hours of nutrition education for the competency level of medical students and physicians during their tenure, this may not be the case at all schools.  Many offer only 15-25 didactics hours. In addition, in some cases, the comparisons are not equal but the researcher was unable to establish the hours and a basic curriculum structure.