A Novel Method of Increasing Medical Student Nutrition Awareness and Education

Table 1

Compilation of SNAAC activities over the 2012–2014 academic years.

Event	Branch	Description	Participants
SNAP challenge	Advocacy	Students challenged to limit their grocery spending to $33/wk, the average MA SNAP benefit for an individual	17 medical students since 2012
Test Kitchen	Advocacy	Familiarizing medical students with nutrition resources and skills through attending cost-conscious healthy cooking demos	24 medical students since 2012
Nutrition for Life (NFL) Clinic observation	Clinical	Providing medical students with early exposure to outpatient specialty multidisciplinary pediatric weight management	Approximately 30 medical students since 2010
BMSCoN, Nutrition Lecture Series	Community outreach	Creating a city-wide network of nutrition oriented medical students to increase networking and nutrition education resources	4 BUSM students active in leadership, attendance of ~20 BUSM students per lecture. 7 other Boston medical students from Tufts and Harvard also active in group leadership
Wellness fair for Spanish speaking elders	Community outreach	Provided nutrition counseling, education materials, and healthy snack demonstration for wellness fair attendees	4 Spanish speaking SNAAC members assisted in this collaborative project
Nutrition module, 1st and 2nd years	Education	Incorporated 2 mandatory online modules into the first and second year curriculums that focus on taking a diet history and evaluating popular diet trends, with the aim of increasing positive attitudes to physician lifestyle counseling	Mandatory participation of BUSM class of approximately 175 students
Nutrition module, 4th year	Education	Aimed at students entering all specialties, this will combine online instruction with in-class practice of basic nutrition and behavioral health counseling	Mandatory for each BUSM 4th year class, approximately 175 students
Orientation bus tour	Education	To introduce first year medical students to the food and fitness environment of Boston neighborhoods during the orientation bus tour	4 SNAAC members participated in the orientation, which was attended by 175 1st year BUSM students at the start of medical school
DI/MS match	Events	Pairing dietetic interns and medical students to share knowledge and build interdisciplinary approaches to healthy lifestyle counseling	57 medical students and 57 dietetic interns since 2010
Walk for hunger	Events	Raising awareness of food insecurity by participating in the Boston-wide event	10 students
Lunch talks	Events	Providing educational, nutrition-focused talks that will meet a wide range of interests in the medical student body	Attendance of around 25–50 medical students per lecture; ~4 lectures per academic year