Nutrition in Medical Education: Does a problem based, community oriented medical faculty value it more than a traditional medical faculty?

Objective: To identify nutrition topics considered important for inclusion in Newcastle undergraduate medical education, and compare them to those from a traditional medical school.
Design: A survey, using a mailed questionnaire, listing 38 major nutrition topics. Respondents were instructed to rank topics as essential, important, desirable, does not belong or don't know. Responses were identified by participant group only.
Participants: All members of the University of Newcastle medical faculty, general practitioners (GPs) available for final year teaching and dietitians working in the region of the medical school.
Main Outcome Measures: Rated importance of listed nutrition topics; comparison between participant groups and previous survey.
Results: More than 60% of the Newcastle respondents overall nominated 30 of the 38 topics essential or important. For 31 of the 38 topics, a higher percentage of respondents in the Newcastle survey ranked the topic as essential or important. Newcastle medical faculty considered nutrition education significantly more essential (p=0.03) than their peers from a traditional medical faculty.
Conclusions: Both Newcastle Medical Faculty and GPs have a strong commitment to nutrition in medical education. Differences between the level of interest in Nutrition education in problem based and traditional courses are postulated to be due to beliefs regarding the importance of nutrition in the practice of medicine, the structure of the course and the extent of integration within the curriculum.