Effects of Pilot Nutrition Curriculum on Medical Student Knowledge and Ability at the University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth Campus

Purpose: Undergraduate medical education is facing an increasing need to bridge the longstanding gap between basic nutrition knowledge and its application to patient care. In an effort to improve upon knowledge and confidence in this area, the University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth Campus implemented a pilot curriculum to increase content and exposure in the dimensions of food, food systems, nutrition, and clinical application. Methods: Two classes of outgoing second-year medical students at the University of Minnesota Duluth Campus were surveyed about personal health, knowledge of nutritional topics, and confidence in implementing these topics in patient care. The control group consisted of outgoing second-year medical students (MS2s) during the 2019-2020 academic year (n=28) prior to pilot nutrition curriculum inception. The cohort group (n=29) consisted of outgoing MS2s from the 2020-2021 academic year who received the new pilot curriculum. Findings: Survey findings did not yield statistically significant differences in control versus cohort responses in students' personal health and knowledge of nutritional concepts. However, over 90% of the cohort group, versus 54% of control, agreed that they were able to discuss and recommend healthy dietary modifications to a patient with a chronic disease. The cohort group also reported higher confidence in talking with patients about dietary patterns (69% vs 39%), whole-food plant-rich diets (90% vs 50%), as well as working inter-professionally with other members of the healthcare team around issues of food and nutrition (97% vs 71%). Conclusion: Results demonstrate that the pilot curriculum increased medical student confidence in evaluating the multidimensionality of food, food systems, and nutrition content as well as the application of this content to patient care. This pilot curriculum may have relevance to other medical schools who are also wishing to bridge this long-standing gap in medical education.