September 30, 2012

Nutrition Department professor Beth Leonberg, in collaboration with professors from several other universities, submitted a final proposal for a research endeavor titled “Electronic Medical Record Simulation to Enhance Learning of Medical Nutrition Therapy,” which promotes an interactive learning alternative for nutrition program students. The research will be funded by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation. “Our program is unlike nursing, where clinical experience is integrated into the degree. We complete the degree first, and graduates then have to apply for an internship separately,” Professor Leonberg explained. The integrated EMR simulation experience will serve as a solution to the current lack of collaborative experiences in many nutrition curricula.

Professor Leonberg will be contributing several pediatric nutrition scenarios and cases to the simulation and her colleagues from across the nation will likewise add simulated patient cases within their own areas of expertise. The simulation exercises will utilize Electronic Medical Records and be entirely technology-based. The simulation program will ultimately be integrated into the Individualized Supervised Practice Pathway (ISPP), a program unique to the College’s Nutrition Department that allows all of our Nutrition Sciences students to have hands-on learning experiences even when internships are hard to come by.