Nutritional training for doctors too long overdue

LONDON, March 19 (UPI) -- Nutritional training is important to every area of clinical practice but has been long neglected, researchers in Britain said.

Dr. Penny Neild of St. George's Hospital in London and colleagues said the profession must take advantage of changes in medical education to ensure that all health professionals, but especially gut specialists, are given adequate training in nutrition.

The evidence shows healthcare professionals in general know little about how to assess and manage poor nutrition and gastroenterologists in particular need to be able to provide advice and expertise in general nutrition, artificial nutrition support, and intestinal failure, the researchers said.

"It is to be hoped that the requirement for more standardized and structured core nutrition training will be recognized and included in the revised curriculum for gastroenterology to be published in 2010," the researchers concluded.

The article is published in Frontline Gastroenterology, a new quarterly companion journal to Gut.

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