摘要：Background and Purpose: Although nutrition has a very important role in individual and society’shealth and disease, it has not yet received proper attention in the medical curricula. The objective ofthis study is to assess the opinions of general physician who worked at private offices in Khorramabadcity about nutrition course in Iranian medical schools.Methods: In this cross-sectional study the data were collected by posting a self-administratedquestionnaire to all GPs who worked at private offices in Khorramabad city of Lorestan province in2005. Participants were asked to state their opinions about each topic considering the followingissues: the appropriate phase for introduction of the topic (in basic sciences, pathophysiology, orclinical training); need for learning it (low, moderate, high); and the time devoted to instruction ofthat topic (inadequate, appropriate, or excessive).GPs opinions were also surveyed to determinetheir reference for the topics not included in current nutrition course. Study data were processed bySPSS version 11 software and analyzed using descriptive and Chi-square statistics with a level ofsignificance of less than 0.05.Results Most of participants believed that clinical teaching periods (clerkship and internship) arethe appropriate stage for teaching disease- related or clinical aspects of nutrition. They also valuedmost of the topics listed in the questionnaire as important learning needs as well as 15 new nutritiontopicsConclusions: Our results clearly indicate that there is a need to include clinical nutritional topics inthe clinical training of medical students. New topics such as nutritional consideration inhypelipidemia, and heart disease should also be included in the nutrition education of physicians.Key words: NUTRITION EDUCATION, MEDICAL CURRICULUM. GENERAL PHYSICIANtJournal of Medical Education Fall 2006; 10(1); 41-45
