The University of Florida College of Medicine leads medical schools nationwide as an active participant in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ initiative to champion nutrition education for future physicians. Through our comprehensive medical training, we thread this content throughout all four years, providing our students with a menu of required and elective courses and experiences, from culinary medicine to food as medicine, to ensure a well-rounded exposure to nutrition education.
Assessment
As part of joining this initiative, College of Medicine faculty and the curriculum committee have reviewed our nutrition related curriculum and conducted a needs assessment to identify areas of opportunity. Our findings indicate we are already excelling in this space, with our students receiving over 100 HHS competency-hour equivalents of required nutrition education content. HHS recommends medical schools design a 40-hour nutrition curriculum.
Next steps
UF College of Medicine faculty will conduct the second phase of a needs assessment this spring. During their final rotation of medical school, students will participate in standardized patient encounters and take an exam to assess their preparation for delivering this important content during residency. Feedback gathered through this process will be used to enhance the curriculum as part of our continuous quality improvement initiatives.