Evaluation of clinical skills for nutrition counseling.

This report describes the procedures for and feasibility of an evaluation program that provides a direct assessment of the use of specific clinical skills during an interview with a simulated patient. The specific aims of this evaluation were to assess untrained graduate students in nutrition on their application of a set of 31 specific clinical skills for resolving dietary adherence problems. Each student conducted two interviews with each of two different simulated patients with hyperlipidemia presenting typical problems following a diet low in saturated fat and cholestrol. The evaluation program provided analyses that identified the strengths and deficits of each student and the performance of the entire group. It is suggested that the evaluation program offers a practical, objective method for examining the entry-level clinical skills of students in training and may be useful in other educational programs (eg, in-service, continuing education workshops).