Diet and Dialogue Skills: An Innovative Approach to Diet Demonstration by Medical Students of Lady Hardinge Medical College

BACKGROUND: Nutrition' is a very essential component of undergraduate teaching in MBBS curriculum. In this age of growing diet-consciousness and fitness, skill development of medical graduates in designing healthy and culturally appropriate diet is imperative. OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the effectiveness of Diet Demonstration Training technique in improving the knowledge about basic principles of nutrition in medical undergraduates. METHODOLOGY: A pilot pretest-posttest study was conducted among 16 undergraduate medical students participated in a pre-conference workshop. Steps of diet demonstration for Under-graduate students were performed and a pretest - posttest was conducted using a self designed self administered questionnaire. RESULTS: The mean marks received by the students were 8.69 & 10.31 out of 15 in the pretest & post-test respectively (p value <0.017). Overall 56.3% & 93.6% students performed well in pre-test and post-test respectively. CONCLUSION: There was significant improvement in nutrition education of participated undergraduates.