Providing nutritional information to their patients is not something that your average General Practioner feels comfortable doing. Even if your doctor fully appreciates the role of nutrition in good health, a recent study by Lauren Ball of Griffith’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland (MHIQ) demonstrated that most doctors are not comfortable giving guidance in that area – although many of them will raise concerns about potential outcomes like obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes.
It would have a far more positive influence on most patients to talk about the importance of nutrition or even to refer the patient to a nutritionist or dietician, suggests Ball.
With funding from Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council, Ball’s research will assess the knowledge of GPs and give them a ‘nutrition confidence’ score.
“This will then inform us in our design of an appropriate intervention and will probably involve a number of activities, including an educational workshop which will help GPs raise the topic with patients in a timely and appropriate manner. We can also use the score to track the progress of GPs, both before and after any interventions that may occur.
“Dietary advice is a pivotal part of any healthy lifestyle but sometimes issues such as time constraints in general practice prevent this from being successfully delivered,” says Dr Cris Beer, a GP registered with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. “Unfortunately, this is not something usually taught at medical school, but in reality more and more patients are seeking nutritional advice from their GP as their first point of reference.
“This research at Griffith will be very valuable in ascertaining how to best support GPs, and hopefully provide them with some new strategies to meet nutrition patients’ needs specific to their particular condition or situation.” Source: http://app.griffith.edu.au/
