The budding doctors at Harvard Medical School were significantly more
likely to say they could effectively counsel their patients about preventive
medicine after taking the 28-hour course, compared with students who did
not receive similar training.
“Medical students have reported being ill-prepared to counsel patients
about diet and exercise and pessimistic about their ability to learn these
skills,” say Molly Conroy, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital
and colleagues. Their findings are published in the American Journal
of Preventive Medicine.
The new study, which is the first to measure the effect
of preventive health training on students’ confidence in their doctoring skills
and their own health, “suggests that a medical school course in preventive
medicine and nutrition may increase future physicians’ rates of counseling
about preventive behaviors,” Conroy says.
“Whether these changes will endure the rigors of the clinical clerkships
and persist beyond graduation also needs to be determined,” she
adds.
The researchers surveyed 134 second-year medical students before and after
the preventive medicine course, which included topics like immunizations,
counseling, clinical nutrition and exercise.
At the end of the study, 87 percent of the students said
that the course “had
made them more aware of their dietary choices” and 72 percent said
that their diet had improved as a result. Many of the students reported
eating less trans-fats and saturated fats and loading up their plates
with more fish and vegetables. Only 18 percent said the course had changed
their
exercise habits.
