A clinical nutrition course to improve pharmacy students' skills and confidence in counseling patients.
OBJECTIVE
To create, implement, and evaluate a PharmD course on primary care nutrition.


METHODS
A 2-credit hour elective course was offered to second- and third-year pharmacy students. It was informed by the Socratic method using a minimum number of formal lecture presentations and featured problem-based learning exercises, case-based scenarios, and scientific literature to fuel informed debate. A single group posttest design with a retrospective pretest was used to assess students' self-efficacy.


RESULTS
There was a significant overall improvement in students' self-efficacy in their ability to practice primary care nutrition.


CONCLUSIONS
Completion of a nutrition course improved students' confidence in providing primary care nutrition and empowered them to speak more comfortably about the role of nutrition in the prevention of chronic diseases.
Chang
Linda
L
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Illinois-Chicago College of Medicine at Rockford, Rockford, IL 61107, USA. lchang@uic.edu
Popovich
Nicholas G
NG
Iramaneerat
Cherdsak
C
Smith
Everett V
EV
Lutfiyya
M Nawal
MN
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003376:Counseling; D003479:Curriculum; D004512:Education, Pharmacy; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D040361:Healthy People Programs; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D052756:Nutritional Sciences / Q000193:education*; D011314:Preventive Health Services; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013339:Students, Pharmacy / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires