Development and Evaluation of a Practiice-Based Assignment in Chronic Kidney Disease to Enhance Clinical Nutrition Coursework

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this work was to develop and evaluate a novel practice-based clinical nutrition assignment to support competency-based academic nutrition programs that integrate didactic and experiential program components. The target audience was graduate nutrition students enrolled in a clinical nutrition course sequence. METHODS: As an alternative to a traditional “paper and pencil” case study assignment, each student was assigned to conduct an in-person, out-of-class interview with a practicing renal nutritionist. In written assignment directions, students were provided with questions for a structured interview which followed the nutrition care process, i.e., nutrition assessment, diagnosis, intervention, monitoring/evaluation, with application to nutrition management of chronic kidney disease. Subsequently, students responded anonymously to Likert scale questions regarding clinical knowledge and confidence in clinical skills derived from the practice-based assignment compared to their expected gains from a traditional “paper and pencil” case assignment plus an open-ended question. RESULTS: The assignment supported clinical nutrition students’ competency in nutrition management of chronic kidney disease and facilitated their networking within the professional nutrition practice community. In class, students shared details of their interview findings from an array of practicing renal nutritionists which generated rich discussions in contrast to a single case study. In evaluating the practice-based assignment, n = 31 students reported on 5 point scales a mean of 4.4 regarding knowledge of clinical nutrition management and a mean of 4.0 regarding confidence in clinical skill derived from the practice-based assignment compared to expectations from a traditional case study assignment (where 5 = better than what I expected and 4 = slightly better than what I expected I would have gained from “paper and pencil” case). CONCLUSIONS: This practice-based assignment in chronic kidney disease provided a unique approach to enhancing clinical nutrition coursework and facilitated an interactive learning environment to support students’ professional growth. FUNDING SOURCES: None.