Nutrition in medical education in Latin America: Results of a cross-sectional survey.

RATIONALE: The gap between the nutrition education provided to medical students and the nutrition competences and attitudes needed for doctors to provide effective nutrition care is a global concern. The goal of this study was to investigate the curricular content on nutrition education in Latin American medical schools and to evaluate the self-perceived knowledge, attitudes, and barriers to nutrition practice of final-year medical students. METHODS: Eighty-five public and private medical schools from 17 Latin American countries were invited to participate in the study. Two close-ended online questionnaires consisting of 25 and 43 questions were sent to medical school directors. Quantitative variables were expressed as frequencies, percentages, mean ± standard deviation, medians, and ranges. RESULTS: A total of 22 (26%) medical school directors responded, of which 11 schools (50%) offered stand-alone mandatory nutrition courses in preclinical and 8 (36%) in clinical years. The mean hours dedicated to nutrition education was 47 (range: 0-150). A total of 1530 of 1630 (94%) students from 12 countries responded. Students' average age was 25 ± 3 years, and 59% were female. Most students agreed that improving patients' health through nutrition (91%) is important and that nutrition counseling and assessment should be part of routine care provided by all physicians (89%), but they lack the level of education and training required to address nutrition-related issues. CONCLUSIONS: Positive attitude and interest in nutrition among final-year medical students is high, but nutrition education is not perceived as sufficient to adequately prepare doctors in the field of nutrition.

The state of the provision of nutritional care to hospitalized patients--results from The Elan-Cuba Study.

Current nutritional care provision to 1905 patients hospitalized in 12 Cuban hospitals is presented in this article, diagnosed after conducting the Hospital Nutrition Survey (HNS), as part of the activities comprising the Cuban Study of Hospital Malnutrition (Elan-Cuba). The obtained HNS results were contrasted with standards regarding the nutritional assessment of hospitalized patient, the diagnosis of nutritional disorders occurring in the patient, and the identification of patients in need of nutritional intervention. The Elan-Cuba Study returned a 41.2% malnutrition rate [Barreto Penié J, Cuban Group for the Study of Hospital Malnutrition. State of malnutrition in Cuban hospitals. Nutrition 2005;21:487-97]. However, malnutrition was recorded as an independent diagnosis in only 0.4% of the surveyed clinical charts. It could not be shown that medical care teams were systematically applying any of the techniques and procedures recommended for the assessment of the nutritional status of hospitalized patients. In the best of the cases, only 40.6% of the surveyed patients had their height and weight recorded in their clinical charts at admission, 9.0% of those with more than 15 days of hospitalization had a prospective value of weight, and less than 20.0% of them had their serum albumin levels and/or their counts of Lymphocytes annotated on their clinical charts. Although 10.9% of the surveyed patients (median of the subcategories values; range: 3.5-41.2%) fulfilled an indication for nutritional intervention, support (enteral and/or parenteral) was only provided to less than 15.0% of them, with the exception made of patients on NPO, of whom 32.3% received either of the two modes of artificial nutrition listed above. It is to be noticed that none of the patients with chronic organic failure were on nutritional support at the time of the survey. The current nutritional care provision to the hospitalized patient might explain the increased rates of hospital malnutrition documented in the Elan-Cuba Study, and should lead to the design and urgent implementation of nutritional and metabolic intervention programs in the surveyed hospitals, given the deleterious effects of nutritional disorders upon the ultimate results of the medical and surgical actions, and the quality and costs of medical care.

Estado nutricional de los pacientes con Insuficiencia Renal Crónica atendidos en el Programa de Hemodiálisis del Hospital Clínico-Quirúrgico "Hermanos Ameijeiras" - Cuba / Nutritional status of patients with chronic renal failure treated at the Hemodialysis Program Clinical-Surgical Hospital "Hermanos Ameijeiras" - Cuba / O estado nutricional dos pacientes com insuficiência renal crônica tratados no programa de hemodiálise Clínico-Cirúrgica do Hospital "Hermanos Ameijeiras" - Cuba

Introdução: Heterogeneidade das taxas de desnutrição associada à insuficiência renal crônica(IRC) na vigência de hemodiálise (HD) assinala desempenhos diferentes conforme os indicadores usados. objetivos: identificar os indicadores que melhor descrevam o estado nutricional e a evolução do paciente renal crônico em HD. Metodologia: Recrutaram-se 28 pacientes atendidos no Programa de Hemodiálise, Serviço de Nefrologia. Hospital Clínico-Cirúrgico "Hermanos Ameijeiras" (Cidade de Havana, Cuba). registraram-se internações hospitalares entre dezembro de 2001 a dezembro de 2002, além da condição do paciente (vivo/óbito), ao final da observação. Cada paciente foi submetido a avaliação nutricional através de: Avaliação Subjetiva Global (ASG), avaliação antropométrica (altura, peso atual, circunferência do braço (CB), prega tricipital (PT), albumina e contagem total de linfócitos (CTL). Construíram-se regras de classificação do estado nutricional com aqueles indicadores que melhor se correlacionaram com a categoria nutricional da ASG. As regras construídas correlacionaram-se com os eventos do período de observação e com o estado final do paciente. Resultados: As taxas de desnutrição foram: albumina <35 g/L: 42,9%; CB< ponto de corte escolhido: 60,7%; CB< ponto de corte escolhido e/ou albumina <35:71,4%; ASG= em risco/desnutrido: 42,9%. ASG foi um preditor independente das internações (OR=14,14; IC95% 1,5 - 137,3) e mortalidade (OR=21,0; IC 95%:2,9 - 151,4). Albumina sérica foi um preditor independente da mortalidade do paciente (OR=21,0; IC 95%:2,9 - 151,4). A regra [(CB

Background: Disparities in rates of malnutrition associated with chronic renal failure (CRF) in the presence of hemodialysis (HD) signals according to different performance indicators. objectives: to identify the indicators that best describe the nutritional status and evolution of chronic renal patients on HD. Methods: We recruited 28 patients are enrolled in the Program Hemodialysis, Nephrology Service. Clinical-Surgical Hospital "Hermanos Ameijeiras" (Havana, Cuba). hospitalizations were recorded between December 2001 and December 2002, and the patient's condition (alive / death) at the end of the observation. Each patient underwent nutritional assessment by: Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), anthropometric measurements (height, current weight, arm circumference (MUAC), triceps (TP), albumin and total lymphocyte count (TLC). Built- if the classification rules of the nutritional status indicators with those that best correlated with the category of nutritional ASG. The rules constructed correlated with the events of the observation period and the final state of the patient. Results: The rates of malnutrition were: albumin <35 g / L: 42.9%; CB