Medical Interns' Viewpoints about Nutrition Course in Lorestan University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Changes in science, technology and life style, and the role of nutrition in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases have propounded the need to revise the outline and content of nutrition course in medical education. The objective was to determine the opinion of medical students in Lorestan University of Medical Sciences (LUMS) about the outline of nutrition course and obtain their suggestions concerning adding new topics to this course in 2004. Methods: In this descriptive study, a valid and reliable questionnaire which asked about the current outline of this course, the time specified for it, and the necessity for learning nutrition, was designed. Also, the topics physicians faced the most but not considered in the course, were put in the questionnaire. The questionnaires were sent to 56 interns and filled by them. The statistical analysis was performed by SPSS softwere. Results: The respondents believed that the nutrition course outline should be divided and presented in three stages of basic sciences, introduction to clinical medicine, and clerkship. They also suggested new nutrition topics such as hospital diets, tube feeding, total parenteral nutrition, and diet and diabetes for the medical education curriculum. In total, they considered 55.9% of the nutrition course, applied and in accordance with their professional needs. Conclusion: This study suggested that the current nutrition course which is taught in Iranian medical schools does not have the required application for a physician and should be revised. These revisions include, adding new topics, presenting the course in an appropriate stage of studying medicine, and adding the number of credits concerning nutrition and diet therapy.