Do Doctors Know That it Takes More Than an Apple a Day? Impact of Formal Nutrition Training on Family Medicine Residents’ Nutrition Knowledge, Confidence, Attitudes, and Counselling Abilities.

Background: Malnutrition and poor dietary intake are major health challenges today. ^1,2,3,4,5 There are well-established benefits of nutrition interventions, but a lack of formalized nutrition training in medical school and residency. ^3,6,7,8 There is also little published information regarding nutrition training impact on residents. Physicians lack knowledge, skills, confidence, and training to effectively counsel in daily practice. ^{1,3,9,10,11,12} Consequently, there is urgent need to improve nutrition training in medicine. Methods: This pre-post study evaluated the impact of an online nutrition course provided to family medicine residents. Time was provided at Academic Half Day to complete the course as well as pre- and post-course surveys with knowledge tests through SurveyMonkey. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate responses. The project was approved by the University of Saskatchewan Behavioural Research Board (Beh 4433). Results: Thirteen residents completed the pre-course questionnaire (response rate = 76%). Of these, ten (77%) felt they received inadequate nutrition training and all thought patients would benefit from improved nutrition counselling. Six residents completed the post-course questionnaire (response rate = 24%). All post-course respondents thought the course was beneficial and that it should be offered to all Canadian family medicine residents, with majority believing it should be mandatory. Respondents’ nutrition knowledge, confidence, beliefs on importance of nutrition counselling, and nutrition counselling in practice appear to increase/improve after training. Conclusions: Implementation of formal nutrition training during residency positively influences family medicine residents’ nutrition knowledge, attitudes, personal dietary patterns, and rates of nutrition counselling. Recommendations: Future research with larger sample sizes is needed to support these conclusions and improve nutrition training during residency. Future studies should look at nutrition training in other specialties as well as examine the rate and quality of nutrition counselling after residency completion.