NETWORKS FOR MEDICAL NUTRITION EDUCATION - A REVIEW OF THE US EXPERIENCE AND FUTURE-PROSPECTS

Nutrition education for physicians in the United States and Canada rem ains an orphan discipline with no improvement or changes in the past d ecade. This status has led to the creation of regional nutrition cente rs and networks to develop nutrition education programs in health prof essional schools. The expanded network concept now covers geographic a reas in the northeastern, southeastern, and middle United States, with plans to extend to the far West and to establish a national coordinat ing center or ''network of networks.'' The barriers to progress in nut rition education must be overcome, and their conquest could form the b asis for initiating new regional networks or a coordinating center. St rategies for nutrition networking are applicable to other disciplines and provide guidance for creating consortia to deal with the diminishe d need for medical and surgical subspecialties and play an important r ole in the training of generalist physicians.