Program for strengthening nutrition as a teaching subject
at medical schools and faculties in Mexico
Background
Doctors can only influence family health habits and well-being
to a limited extent: throughout their courses, medicine students
do not acquire enough knowledge (certainly not quality) to aid
their performance in the field of nutrition, and the few nutriology-related
topics included in study programs often bear no relation to
medical practices in general. This problems is not exclusively
ours. Many international publications document similar situations
abroad.
In order to overcome this situation, many countries have promoted
teaching nutrition at medical schools. In Mexico this movement
took shape since 1990, through the Program for strengthening
nutrition as a teaching subject at medical schools and faculties,
under the guidance of Funsalud and the Mexican Association of
Medical Schools and Faculties (AMFEM), and the NNF.
Aims
Introducing nutrition as a teaching subject at medical schools
and faculties in Mexico will prepare graduates to solve the
most common nutrition-related problems and give counsel on feeding
habits to their patients and their families.
Achievements
- Both
directors and teaching staff at medical schools and faculties
have been made aware of the importance of introducing nutrition
in their study programs.
- Resident
doctors were evaluated by means of a "false-true-I don't
know" type of survey that tested their knowledge on nutriology.
These were general practitioners doing residence courses on
gynaeco-obstetrics, pediatrics or internal medicine. They
were compared with a contrasting group of college-level Nutriology
students. The practitioners got marks below the minimum approved
levels. The college students got marks that were very close
to the minimum approved levels. Casanueva
E, Valdés R. : El conocimiento nutriológico
de médicos residentes. Rev Invest. Clin. 1991; 43:211-214.
- Organization
of a course on nutrition for medicine school and faculty teachers:
A module of medical nutrition was included, integrated when
the students finished their basic subjects. The course lasted
53 hours: 22 theory, 32 practice, including workshop and laboratory.
The course comprised three parts: a) the first, lasting 14
hours, covered general aspects of nutrients, food groups and
anthropometrics, as well as clinic and dietetic evaluations;
b) the second part, lasting 12 hours, dealt with nourishment
and nutrition of healthy individuals at different stages of
their life cycles, and c) the third part, lasting 26 hours,
included subjects of nourishment and nutrition among ill individuals.
The contents of this course were chosen in collaboration with
eight medicine schools and faculties. Dr.
Guillermo Soberón: Enseñanza de la nutrición
en la carrera de medicina en: Nutrición Clínica,
1994: Memorias de un Simposio Internacional.
- Teachers'
training program: In august 1992, the first training course
for teachers was imparted at eight medicine schools and faculties.
The course was given by the authors of the book "Nutiología
Médica" (Medical Nutriology), not yet written
then. The aim of the course was to evaluate the organization
of the contents of the nutrition course described above.
- An
International Symposium on Nutrition was celebrated in November
1992, at the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (
Autonomous University of Guadalajara) and the Universidad
Iberoamericana (Iberoamericana University), which resulted
in the publication of the book Nutrición
Clínica, 1994: Memorias de un Simposio Internacional.
- A basic
curriculum of medical nutriology was designed by representatives
of eight of the AMFEM's schools, for teaching purposes. All
eight schools offered specific courses taught by teachers
specialized in nutrition. Specialists from research centers
and third-level attention institutions also contributed to
improve the curriculum. The curriculum served as a guide to
elaborate the text book Nutriología
Médica. It also helped design and implement various
strategies (a joint effort with the AMFEM) to promote nutrition
as a teaching subject. Arroyo
P, Casanueva E, Kaufer-Horwitz M, Pérez-Lizaur, Córdova-Villalobos
J. A., Polo Ernestina: Formación nutriológica
en las escuelas de medicina de México. Rev Invest Clin
1998, 50:517-24.
- In 1990,
FUNSALUD and the AMFEM undertook a diagnostic survey which
revealed that only a small number of medical schools in Mexico
offered nutrition courses; a few taught vaguely related topics
with an emphasis on Biochemistry and Physiology; and the rest
did not explicitly include nutrition in their study programs.
The survey also revealed that there were few specialists teaching,
that the infrastructure for clinical teaching was poor, and
that high-level students were bad on knowledge of nutrition.
This article describes those activities related to the teaching
of nutrition at medical schools and faculties in Mexico, emphasizing
both the state of nutrition before the Program for strengthening
nutrition as a teaching subject at medical schools and faculties,
as well as the description of a basic study program and the
presentation of applied strategies to promote it. Arroyo
P, Casanueva E, Kaufer-Horwitz M, Pérez-Lizaur, Córdova-Villalobos
J.A., Polo Ernestina:Formación nutriológica
en las escuelas de medicina de México. Rev Invest Clin
1998, 50:517-24.
- The book
Nutriología
Médica has been recently published. It is meant
to become a key instrument to promote the teaching of nutrition
as a separate subject and unify the education and training
of the teaching staff. The first edition came out in 1995;
since then it has been reprinted twice. The second edition
(5,000 copies) was put to sale on stores in March 2001. The
work is now being reprinted. It covers three main aspects:
1) general and preventive, 2) diagnostic, and 3) basic aspects.
- Seven
training and updating courses for teachers from 54 schools
and faculties were carried out at the Salvador Zubirán
National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition.
- Eleven
medical schools were given financial support to develop infrastructure
for the teaching of nutrition.
- A cycle
of seminars on medical nutriology was carried out. Its aim
was the diffusion of medical nutriology topics that might
interest general practitioners, with an emphasis on the training
of teachers at medical schools and faculties. Up to now six
seminars have taken place, all of them at the Congress Unit
of the Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, organized
along with AMFEM, and with the support of Medical Societies
that gather specialists in pediatrics, obstetrics, internal
medicine, and gastroenterology.
6°
Nutriología clínica en las enfermedades infecciosas.
Enf
Infecc y Micro 2001; 21(1): 1-48.
7° Tópicos selectos sobre metabolismo de proteínas.
Rev
End y Nut 2002; 10(1): 1-39.
8°
Nutrición en la edad avanzada.
Nutrición
Clínica 2003; (6)1: 1-129
- Nestlé
scholarships program for education of specialists in clinical
nutrition, The Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon.
-
Specialization in clinical nutrition for graduate students
in nutrition: The NNF offers two-year scholarships to
graduate students of nutrition who are interested in the
clinical nutrition program offered by the Autonomous University
of Nuevo Leon School of Public Health and Nutrition. The
program seeks to develop into a model for specialized
programs in clinical nutrition in Mexico and Latin America,
on a level with the best programs offered in the United
States, Canada, and Europe. The course of study is organized
around three axes:
1.- Nutritional care
2.-
Research in nutrition
3.-
Advanced knowledge of nutrition.
Information:
Hilda I. Novelo
Academic Coordinator for the
Specialized Program in Clinical Nutrition
Address:
Lic. en Nut. Hilda I. Novelo
Coordinadora Academica de la
Especialidad en Clinical nutrition
Ave. Dr. Eduardo Aguirre Pequeño y Yuriria
Col. Mitras Centro
C.P. 64460
Monterrey, N.L., Mexico
Tel: 8348-60-80
8348-64-47
Email:hnovelo@faspyn.uanl.mx
hinovelo@hotmail.com
- The Program of Nestle
Scholarships for specialization in obesity. This specialty
is taught by the Salvador Zubirán National Institute
of Medical Sciences and Nutrition. The NNF offers one 1-year
scholarships for residents practitioners interested in specializing
in obesity. The Program of Nestle Scholarships has given out
as many scholarships as the Ministry of Health. Requirements
More Information
Dr. Eduardo García
García
Head of the Obesity and Food Disorders Clinic
Professor of the Specialization in Obesity
Salvador Zubiran National Institute for Medical Science
and Nutrition
Address:
Vasco de Quiroga No.15
Col. Sección XVI, Delegación Tlalpan, Código
Postal 14000
México D.F.
Tel: 54-87-09-00
- Ten years
promoting better nutrition
With
the purpose of evaluating the progress made in the movement
on behalf of nutritional education in ten years, in 2001 an
International Conference was organized in Mexico City, to
which experts from leading Latin American and U.S. institutions
were invited to exchange experiences. The lectures given at
the conference were published in a bilingual collection in
the magazine Nutrición Clínica, the official
organ of the Mexican Association for Enteric and Endovenous
Nutrition (Asociacion Mexicana de Alimentacion Enteral y Endovenosa,
A.C.).
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