A survey of undergraduate programs for the community practitioner

The purpose of the survey of college and university undergraduate programs in community nutrition, community dietetics, and public health nutrition was to characterize undergraduate programs which prepared entry-level practitioners in order to facilitate planning at the graduate level. The survey, which sampled known problems areas, revealed the diversity, confusion, and accomplishments of a field of study that is changing. The rapid growth and early stage of development of many of the undergraduate programs suggested that measures may be taken to promote excellence in both undergraduate and graduate education. Specific problems in the organization, administration, and curricula of the programs surveyed were identified. Recommendations were made to the Association of Faculties of Graduate Programs in Public Health Nutrition and the State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors to promote surveillance of these programs, to encourage problem-solving communications, and to conduct educational research. The report and the recommendations have been referred to the newly formed ad hoc committee of the joint associations for further action.     

Perceptions of occupational therapists practising in rural Australia: A graduate perspective

Background:  The difficulty in recruiting and retaining health professionals into rural and remote areas of Australia is well recognised. This study explored the perceptions of occupational therapists practising in rural locations regarding the essential skills necessary for rural practice and the ability of undergraduate education to prepare them for rural practice.
Methods:  A qualitative study using a phenomenological approach was conducted using semistructured in-depth interviews. Participants included occupational therapists who were graduates of James Cook University, who were practising in rural areas in Queensland and Victoria, and academic staff.
Results:  This study demonstrates that it is important for universities to develop both a mindset in their graduates for rural practice, as well as developing broader skills in addition to core discipline-specific skills. While subjects developing core occupational therapy skills are at the centre of undergraduate education, the importance of developing a broader understanding of rural health issues and skills in public health, primary health care and health promotion was emphasised.
Conclusion:  The development of specific skills to become competent rural practitioners and to cope with the challenges of rural practice can be strengthened through initiatives at the undergraduate level. Ongoing commitment from all universities across Australia to include rural curriculum content has the potential to improve recruitment and retention of occupational therapists and other health professionals into rural Australia.     

The long march: the development of academic general practice in the UK and Ireland

Academic general practice and primary care is thriving in both the UK and Ireland, as judged by the content and vibrancy of the main annual scientific meetings of the discipline in the two countries. Problems and challenges abound, but the long-term trend is one of steady growth, with gradual increases in capacity and activity. Contributions to undergraduate medical education and to multidisciplinary professional development, and achievements in the UK University Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) show what the discipline is capable of. A major challenge remains the creation and funding of appropriate academic career structures in academic general practice and primary care, removing the current financial disincentives, uncertainties and problems in acquiring both clinical and academic experience. With increased numbers of clinical and non-clinical academics working in general practice and primary care, the discipline is set to play an important role in health service development in both the UK and Ireland.     

An assessment of the usability of undergraduate healthcare management program websites

Prospective students in higher education programs increasingly use the Internet as a source of information to assist in the selection of both university and major programs of study. Therefore, having an informative and well designed website is now an integral component of a higher education program's marketing mix. This article attempts to inform undergraduate health administration programs about the elements of good website design, namely content that is important and relevant to users, site layout appeal, and ease of navigation. Content analyses of undergraduate health administration program websites in 2002 and 2005 assessed both the extent of content from a standard list of twenty-five information elements and usability features of the sites. Implications for improvements to program websites are discussed.     

Report on Clinical Nutrition Research Units

The National Institutes of Health support seven Clinical Nutrition Research Units, which are designed to create or strengthen nutrition research, training, and education through coordinated effort, intellectual stimulation, and use of shared resources. Research at the participating institutions focuses on the role of nutrition in cancer, cardiovascular disease, renal disease, digestive diseases, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and other illnesses. Contributing substantially to the development of this nutrition research base have been Clinical Nutrition Research Unit-supported pilot studies, core laboratories, and new investigators. In the clinical setting, Clinical Nutrition Research Unit Nutritional Support Services assist in the care of patients receiving total parenteral nutrition and those with anorexia nervosa, burns, cancer, and a spectrum of nutrition-related problems. Participation of Clinical Nutrition Research Unit staff in training activities range from undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate education courses for medical students and other health professionals to continuing education workshops, lecture series, and information programs for professional and lay audiences.     

The integrality of children care in the perception of undergraduate nursing student

This qualitative study aimed to identify how undergraduate students perceive the comprehensive care of children in their learning process in a course of Bachelor of Nursing in S?o Paulo. We interviewed 89 students in June and December 2009. The collected data were analyzed using content analysis and four themes were identified. Comprehensive care is seen as the entire care, involving child, family, living conditions, environment. The educational institution has proposed early integration of the student in the reality of nursing work; this demystifies the ideal care, and the student faces reality. The professor instigate the student to reflect on their practice, so that makes sense to the student and the knowledge and practice related to comprehensive care to child also be apprehended.     

Effectiveness of service learning and learning through service in dietetics education

Positive assessments of service learning as a teaching methodology have stimulated colleges and universities to adopt service learning in their curricula. This study was undertaken to determine whether service learning could be implemented effectively as a teaching methodology in dietetics education. A total of 49 undergraduate students who were enrolled in Nutrition for the Aging course participated in a service learning project. During 5 weeks of the service learning project, students interacted with and assisted clients of the federal Elderly Nutrition Program (Title IIIc). Orientation to the project, reflection on the experience, and evaluation were important components of this project. Evaluation indicated that service learning was an effective teaching method in the dietetics curriculum. Students reported that they were able to integrate the classroom content with real-life experience and learned more while doing so. Service learning had a positive effect on learning by bringing additional personal, professional, and spiritual context to the subject content taught in the classroom and on an understanding of community resources and needs.     

Diagnostic radiology in the undergraduate curriculum in Nigerian universities

Diagnostic radiology, despite its well-recognized essential role in medicine, is a much neglected subject in Nigerian medical schools and is omitted in the undergraduate curriculum. There are only about 50 radiologists in Nigeria, of a population of about 80 million people. Of these, 75% work in the university teaching hospitals. Since for some time to come many medical practitioners may have to continue handling simple radiological investigations and possibly interpreting them, unaided by radiologists, adequate undergraduate exposure to this discipline through the inclusion of formal teaching of radiology in the undergraduate curriculum seems imperative. This in turn will serve to improve recruitment into this specialty.     

Living a socio-cultural approach in nursing education

The paper describes a teaching experience linking an undergraduate course and Master's degree course strictu sensu. The aim is to reflect on the social-cultural approach in nursing teaching and the relationship between teacher and students in the classroom. The subject of the study were students and a teacher from the discipline Philosophical Anthropology (graduate course) and student of the discipline Methodology of nursing teaching (master's course). The methodology applied was varied. The master's student followed the discipline through a participant observation and taught eight hours of class. On the participant observation of classes Paulo Freire's concepts of relationship between teacher and student and teaching-learning were applied. The feedback from the subjects in relation to the experience was positive.     

Historical background and development of applied nutrition and community nutrition in Korea

This paper overviews the historical background and development of applied nutrition and community nutrition in Korea. The nutrition studies in the early years focused on animal experiments, human metabolism, and food analysis and therefore were limited to classrooms and research laboratories in universities without spreading into the lives of people. Korean specialists trained through the UN International Course of Applied Nutrition initiated the Applied Nutrition Program (ANP) in Korea in the 1960s. The ANP in Korea was effectively implemented until 1986 with support from UNICEF, FAO, and WHO as a national project to improve the nutrition and health of rural residents. With economic development and urbanization in Korea, the rural-focusing ANP was re-born to a more extended version with the name of "Community Nutrition" targeting the nutrition and health of the entire Korean population. Scholarly associations including the Korean Society of Community Nutrition established in 1995 have significantly contributed to the development of Community Nutrition in Korea and are expected to continue to work for a better connection between nutrition and health promotion.     

Removing the roadblocks to medical and health student training in rural hospitals in Victoria

Objective: To assess the extent of undergraduate health student placements in regional hospitals in northern Victoria in 1999, prior to substantial changes in rural undergraduate medical education in Australia. Method: Cross sectional postal survey with telephone follow‐up in north‐east Victoria. Subjects were all 17 regional and rural hospitals involved in health student teaching in North‐east Victoria. Main outcome measures were the numbers, duration and discipline of health students placements and reported barriers to such placements. Results: Large regional hospitals accounted for two‐thirds of all undergraduate health student placements. Smaller sites placed few allied health students. Barriers to a larger, more sustainable system of rural placements and rotations included accommodation shortages and funding constraints, particularly in smaller rural hospitals. Conclusions: Adequate resourcing of placements of a meaningful duration, stronger institutional support, and improved resourcing of regional accommodation is required to facilitate a larger, more systematic and sustainable system of medical and health student placements in rural areas. What is already known: The extent of training of health professionals in rural Australia is increasing rapidly. Fears have been expressed that the capacity to deliver quality experience in rural practice may be limited. What this study adds: This cross sectional survey of rural Victorian hospitals shows that there is a major untapped potential in rural hospitals of all sizes to assist with training in rural practice, but that a number of barriers to such training need to be removed to reach full capacity.     

Misleading Nutrition Claims on Cracker Packages Prior to and Following Implementation of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990

Objectives:This study compared patterns in selected health claims on snack cracker packaging and fat content prior to and following enforcement of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA).Methods:Through observations at supermarkets in 1991 and 1995, the prevalence on packages of health claims that consumers associate with heart disease prevention was evaluated. The fat content of each product also was recorded. Criteria for potentially misleading claims were developed.Results:Analysis of both cross-sectional data and products that were available in both years showed that fat content, as well as the number of products containing target claims, had significantly decreased by 1995. The prevalence of potentially misleading claims also declined significantly, from 77% in 1991 to 49% in 1995.Conclusions:Although the data regarding the changes from 1991 to 1995 are encouraging, the prevalence of potentially misleading health claims for this food category continues to be high.     

Management education for undergraduate doctors. A survey of medical schools

Explores the extent to, and ways in which, doctors are prepared for their future role in management through the undergraduate medical curriculum. Surveys the colleges across the UK offering undergraduate medical education using both prospectuses and questionnaires to establish both inclusion of healthcare management/policy in curricula and the subject content offered. Establishes that the majority of colleges offer some teaching of health care management/policy although the areas of study included vary considerably. The emphasis in most institutions appears to be on introducing the structure and organization of the NHS together with decision making in respect of resource allocation often located within a public health programme. This leads to the tentative conclusion that the management education needs of future public health physicians are reasonably well served while those of hospital doctors and general practitioners need further investigation.     

Physical exercise according to nursing students' perceptions

This study aimed to get to know the perceptions of undergraduate students from the University of S?o Paulo College of Nursing about physical exercise as an instrument to maintain health and well being. Data were collected through the application of a questionnaire in class, involving 122 undergraduate students. In this group, 52.23% believed that physical exercise should only be recommended to people with health problems. Only 8% thought that exercise can prevent diseases, and only 6.61% uses protection equipment. Therefore, we concluded that nursing students need to be better prepared to be able to intervene correctly as professionals.     

Human nutrition in medical practice: the training of doctors.

Nutritional advice from doctors and other health workers is held in high regard by the general public. It is important, therefore, to ensure that the advice given is sound and safe. Historically, the training in nutrition for the health professions has been piecemeal and selective. As a first step in the development of national standards, a core curiculum on nutrition for health professionals was developed as part of the National Nutrition Task Force. Designed for undergraduates, the curriculum sought to provide a standard for training which would ensure safe practice. The curriculum, which has been accepted by all undergraduate medical schools, identifies eighteen bullet points covering: the principles of nutritional science; public health nutrition; clinical nutrition and nutritional support. Postgraduate training for doctors is the responsibility of the Royal Colleges, who have formed an Intercollegiate Group on nutrition. This group has developed an intercollegiate foundation course in nutrition which lasts for I week and is offered at different centres around the country. Using the Intercollegiate Course as a base, individual Colleges are exploring how they might best develop the next level of training by identifying the educational needs for nutrition in different sub-specialities. There is some discussion as to whether it is timely to develop a defined clinical speciality in human nutrition. Within these developments, nutritionists and dietitians are identified as a resource to be called upon by other health professionals, and therefore it is important that in their own training they are suitably equipped to take on this challenge.     

The role of partnership in capacity building in public health nutrition - experience of malaysia

Public Health emphasizes the plurality of the determinants of health of individuals, families and communities. Nutrition, as a major determinant of health, is itself influenced by a multitude of determinants that are under the purview of several agencies. Thus, inter-sectoral collaboration among the relevant agencies is imperative for promoting optimal health and nutrition such a partnership is manifested in the development and implementation of the National Plan of Nutrition (NPAN) of Malaysia pursuant to the International Conference on Nutrition (ICN) held in 1992. While the overall coordination of NPAN is at the Family Development Division in the Ministry of Health, the body that sees to the coordination is again a multi-agency group in the form of the National Coordinating Committee for Food and Nutrition (NCCFN). The NCCFN has representation for the nine thrust areas of NPAN that cut across various sectors including health, agriculture, education, community development and economic planning. Capacity building is a central strategy in the NPAN through the creation of positions and special budgetary allocations, and the implementation of activities including research, training, development of dietary guidelines and the National Nutrition Policy. This policy will be a major driving force for strengthening and building of capacity for nutrition-related activities, and more importantly it will facilitate a coordinated and coherent approach to capacity building, including sharing of resources.