Evaluation of an educational program in preventive cardiology

In 1979, an educational program in preventive cardiology (PC), supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) was introduced into the medical school at the University of Tennessee, Memphis (UTM). This report evaluates that program from 1979 to 1984 in terms of student health behaviors, student attitudes toward PC, student knowledge of PC, and the impact of the program on continuing development of educational programs in PC. In 1981, using a 30% random sample, freshmen students in medicine and dentistry at UTM and medical students at a nearby state medical school similar to UTM were surveyed concerning health behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge. The surveys were repeated three years later. Analysis of the data from these pre- and postsurveys showed that UTM medical students improved (P less than .05) their attitudes about the preventability of heart disease and that their PC knowledge scores increased (P less than .0001). Personal health habits and health parameters were generally good and remained so. Although control medical students improved their PC knowledge, this change was not as great as in UTM medical students (P less than .05). The improved attitude toward PC in UTM medical students was not statistically different from changes in control students. Unfortunately, the statistical power of this analysis was low (less than 20%), and important differences between UTM medical students and controls were likely to have been missed. In addition to changes in students, considerable institutional change occurred at UTM as a direct result of this project, leading to the expansion of emphasis on PC (and prevention in general) in the five years since the completion of this NHLBI-funded program.