Nutrition in medical education: Cross-sectional study in a Peruvian university

Recent studies have found that medical students claim to have received insufficient nutritional education. Objectives: To describe the perception of training, attitudes and skills, knowledge and barriers acquired, and the correlation between nutrition training and knowledge. Methods: Cross-sectional, observational and correlational study, using a survey of 47 questions to 6th year students of a medical school. The analysis included frequencies, proportions, median and interquartile ranges. The correlation between the training received and the knowledge acquired was estimated using Spearman's Rho coefficient with a significance of p < 0.05. Results: Seventy-five students were included with a median age of 24 years. Most students perceived their nutrition training as not sufficient. About 90% had a positive attitude towards nutrition education. Nutrition knowledge ranged from 16 to 95%. A direct correlation (Spearman's Rho= 0.278) was found to be significant (p= 0.013) between the training received and knowledge. Conclusions: The perception of medical student about their training in nutrition was low, despite having a proactive attitude; knowledge had contrasting results. A direct correlation was established between the perception of nutrition training and knowledge.