Nutrition Education in Primary Care Adult and Family Nurse Practitioner Programs.

BACKGROUND: Educating and training clinicians to deliver nutrition interventions is critical to improve population health. However, the adequacy of nutrition education within primary care adult and family nurse practitioner (ANP/FNP) curricula has not been addressed. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe faculty perceptions of nutrition education in ANP/FNP programs. METHODS: We used a cross-sectional design to gather data on nutrition education. The survey was administered to a convenience sample of faculty from the United States. RESULTS: Our response rate was 47.8% (N = 49). The mean ± SD hours of nutrition education was 14.4 ± 14.6. One-fourth of schools reported that their students received at least 25 hours of nutrition education. Most participants thought it was very or extremely important (75.6%) that their students become more educated about nutrition. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need and desire for more nutrition education within nursing graduate curricula. Novel strategies to implement nutrition education in nurse practitioner curriculum are needed.

A National Survey of Faculty Perceptions of Nutrition in Nursing Education.

BACKGROUND: Nurses are situated to provide nutrition education to patients, yet it is not established how prepared nurses are for this role. This study described faculty perceptions of nutrition education in Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs. METHOD: This is a cross-sectional study of faculty from 4-year BSN programs. Participants completed an online questionnaire that asked about nutrition instruction at their school. RESULTS: Fifty surveys were returned, for a response rate of 35%. Most BSN programs required one (72.7%) or two (4.5%) nutrition courses. On average, students received 52.6 hours of nutrition instruction. Most (68.6%) schools reported more than 25 hours of nutrition education. Competing demands were frequently cited as barriers to providing nutrition education. CONCLUSION: Many schools met the expectation of 25 hours of nutrition education, based on the National Research Council. Many nursing curricula incorporated nutrition topics related to acute care, but training in chronic ambulatory nutrition was limited. [J Nurs Educ. 2020;59(10):566-569.].

Effects of a low-intensity intervention that prescribed a low-carbohydrate vs. a low-fat diet in obese, diabetic participants.

Low-carbohydrate diets have been associated with significant reductions in weight and HbA(1c) in obese, diabetic participants who received high-intensity lifestyle modification for 6 or 12 months. This investigation sought to determine whether comparable results to those of short-term, intensive interventions could be achieved over a 24-month study period using a low-intensity intervention that approximates what is feasible in outpatient practice. A total of 144 obese, diabetic participants were randomly assigned to a low-carbohydrate diet (<30 g/day) or to a low fat diet (