BACKGROUND: Nutrition education of many medical students continues to be inadequate. Computer-based instruction in nutrition is a resource that introduces a new level of flexibility for instructors and students while maintaining a high level of educational quality. Previous evaluations have demonstrated the efficacy of our programs on nutrient physiology and the role of nutrition in the disease process, but some students complained about the time spent on content that they had covered in other courses. OBJECTIVE: We wanted to explore the effectiveness of an abbreviated program version that bypassed topics that the students had mastered already. DESIGN: Multiple-choice questions were used to determine knowledge of 117 second-year medical students in each of the main knowledge areas covered by our Nutrition and Cancer instructional module. The students were then randomly assigned to complete either the full version or a shortened version adapted to their demonstrated knowledge. Four days later the same as well as new questions were used to compare knowledge gain between the 2 groups. RESULTS: The shorter time spent with the tailored version than with the full version (2.5 h versus <1.5 h) decreased learning efficacy to only a small extent. More tailored-version users than full-version users were interested in further computer-based instruction (59% versus 41%, P < 0.05), suggesting better acceptance. CONCLUSIONS: Our experience underscores the power of computer-based instruction to bring nutrition education to medical students. The newly developed adaptive features of the nutrition programs may also be helpful for practicing physicians to efficiently bridge knowledge gaps.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: Nutrition education of many medical students continues to be inadequate. Computer-based instruction in nutrition is a resource that introduces a new level of flexibility for instructors and students while maintaining a high level of educational quality. Previous evaluations have demonstrated the efficacy of our programs on nutrient physiology and the role of nutrition in the disease process, but some students complained about the time spent on content that they had covered in other courses. OBJECTIVE: We wanted to explore the effectiveness of an abbreviated program version that bypassed topics that the students had mastered already. DESIGN: Multiple-choice questions were used to determine knowledge of 117 second-year medical students in each of the main knowledge areas covered by our Nutrition and Cancer instructional module. The students were then randomly assigned to complete either the full version or a shortened version adapted to their demonstrated knowledge. Four days later the same as well as new questions were used to compare knowledge gain between the 2 groups. RESULTS: The shorter time spent with the tailored version than with the full version (2.5 h versus <1.5 h) decreased learning efficacy to only a small extent. More tailored-version users than full-version users were interested in further computer-based instruction (59% versus 41%, P < 0.05), suggesting better acceptance. CONCLUSIONS: Our experience underscores the power of computer-based instruction to bring nutrition education to medical students. The newly developed adaptive features of the nutrition programs may also be helpful for practicing physicians to efficiently bridge knowledge gaps.
Authors: Linda Van Horn; Carine M Lenders; Charlotte A Pratt; Bettina Beech; Patricia A Carney; William Dietz; Rose DiMaria-Ghalili; Timothy Harlan; Robert Hash; Martin Kohlmeier; Kathryn Kolasa; Nancy F Krebs; Robert F Kushner; Mary Lieh-Lai; Janet Lindsley; Susan Meacham; Holly Nicastro; Caryl Nowson; Carole Palmer; Miguel Paniagua; Edward Philips; Sumantra Ray; Suzanne Rose; Marcel Salive; Marsha Schofield; Kathryn Thompson; Jennifer L Trilk; Gwen Twillman; Jeffrey D White; Giovanna Zappalà; Ashley Vargas; Christopher Lynch Journal: Adv Nutr Date: 2019-11-01 Impact factor: 8.701
Authors: Anish Patnaik; Justin Tran; John W McWhorter; Helen Burks; Alexandra Ngo; Tu Dan Nguyen; Avni Mody; Laura Moore; Deanna M Hoelscher; Amber Dyer; Leah Sarris; Timothy Harlan; C Mark Chassay; Dominique Monlezun Journal: Med Sci Educ Date: 2020-05-20
Authors: Dominique J Monlezun; Lyn Dart; Anne Vanbeber; Peggy Smith-Barbaro; Vanessa Costilla; Charlotte Samuel; Carol A Terregino; Emine Ercikan Abali; Beth Dollinger; Nicole Baumgartner; Nicholas Kramer; Alex Seelochan; Sabira Taher; Mark Deutchman; Meredith Evans; Robert B Ellis; Sonia Oyola; Geeta Maker-Clark; Tomi Dreibelbis; Isadore Budnick; David Tran; Nicole DeValle; Rachel Shepard; Erika Chow; Christine Petrin; Alexander Razavi; Casey McGowan; Austin Grant; Mackenzie Bird; Connor Carry; Glynis McGowan; Colleen McCullough; Casey M Berman; Kerri Dotson; Tianhua Niu; Leah Sarris; Timothy S Harlan; On Behalf Of The Chop Co-Investigators Journal: Biomed Res Int Date: 2018-04-15 Impact factor: 3.411