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.