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 dietconsciousness 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]