Maggie McKay (Host): Welcome to Careers in Care, a Mount Carmel College of Nursing podcast. I'm your host, Maggie McKay. Today, MCCN Associate Professor, Larissa Brophy, will discuss nutrition's role in nursing education and practice. Thank you so much for being here today, Larissa.

Larissa Brophy, MS, RDN: Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Host: Let's just start with why is it important that nurses have a strong foundational knowledge about nutrition?

Larissa Brophy, MS, RDN: Nursing is really a center stone to healthcare, especially in a hospitalized patient. So for nurses to have that foundational understanding of how nutrition interplays with the aspects of health and wellness, as well as chronic disease management, and they can navigate that experience for the patient during their hospitalization or out in the community so that they can help that patient succeed for better outcomes.

Host: Would you please share some examples of how nurses apply nutrition knowledge in patient care?

Larissa Brophy, MS, RDN: So, I will give you an example. In an adult patient, congestive heart failure is a medical diagnosIS we see a lot in a hospitalized patient as well as in the community. And nutrition is a really big component of management in the sense of watching their sodium intake. And nursing often is that first line that can easily identify and address that information or knowledge gap for the patient, and then able to quickly remedy that without-- you know, say the patient's on the way out the door for discharge, and then that nurse can quickly help that patient and improve outcomes after discharge.

Host: How is nutrition integrated into the nursing curriculum at Mount Carmel?

Larissa Brophy, MS, RDN: So, we start with a basic nutrition course, which is common in all nursing curriculum across the United States. And in the sophomore year, we start to integrate nutrition with our three nutrition faculty members by having students in their foundation clinical courses start thinking about it at the basic level. So, "How do I apply this basic knowledge I learned in my nursing course to that patient or that family member?" And then, we continue that journey of integration into the medical surgical unit, their junior year, going into the clinical units and the very complex adult patients, collecting data and information about the patient, and then having them identify a priority diagnosis and then following through with that, through nursing actions as well as discharge instructions.

And then, the last piece is in the senior year when they're more specialized in their curriculum, we included in their pediatric course, there is a nutrition component in their geriatrical course as well as acute, which is in the ICU or the critical care units.

Host: Larissa, how common is it for nursing schools to teach students about nutrition?

Larissa Brophy, MS, RDN: So, like I just stated, it is a base course that all nursing programs do require. The difference is the integration piece at Mount Carmel. We wrote a paper back in 2021 and gathered some information regarding hours and the outreach hours is like 52 hours in the 50 universities that were surveyed in this one publication that we referenced. And we provide over a hundred hours of nutrition within our curriculum so they get double the nutrition focus. And it ensures that the nutrition piece becomes more evidence-based versus anecdotal or they will consult the dieticians to help their patient if it's a more complex patient.

Host: And how do students typically respond to the nutrition coursework since it's double what, you know, normal hospitals teach?

Larissa Brophy, MS, RDN: I feel that I've been with Mount Carmel, this is my 12th year at Mount Carmel. And I feel, over the 12 years, there has been a shift in perceptions for the positive, where nursing students are very receptive, understanding that this is really part of their holistic practice and for us to improve the health of this nation. This is an important piece. So, I feel like it has improved in the reception. And we see that in our student evaluations. We see that with other faculty members. And it's just overall well-received. They don't like the extra work, for sure. But I think, at the end of the day, they realize the benefit of what they're doing with us.

Host: Larissa, are there any hands-on or experiential learning opportunities related to nutrition?

Larissa Brophy, MS, RDN: We do integrate nutrition on the units. So, that really gives them that hands-on experience. Also, if a patient is working with a dietician, we encourage students to go in and experience that, especially like with diabetes education, which is very specialized, so that they can experience that and then view the dietician or the diabetes educator-- because those can be nurses too-- do their magic. So, they really have a lot of opportunities, especially during the last semester of sophomore going into junior and senior years, really get to experience hands-on interacting with the patient, having dialogue about their nutrition and lifestyle, and then being able to intervene with education or resource management or, again, consulting the correct discipline, maybe the social worker, the discharge planner, or the dietician.

Host: And what kind of feedback can you received from students about how nutrition education has impacted their nursing education?

Larissa Brophy, MS, RDN: We don't get a lot of feedback. After they graduate, we do a survey with students, after graduation. I forget the timeline for that, where we ask them specifically what was their quality of instruction, basically. But we haven't really done any post-graduation surveys to see how maybe they felt like it impacted their ability to integrate nutrition into the nursing care.

What we have seen in like the literature or our experience is, within that post-graduation period to about five years, it does seem to improve their ability to be more holistic in their approach with patients, whereas nurses from other programs, it takes them a little bit longer to integrate that nutrition piece. And I always tell nurses they're my ears and eyes of healthcare and they're kind of that air traffic controller, when it comes to patient care. So, they have a really unique role that is just imperative to improving patient outcomes.

Host: What are some emerging trends in nutrition that nurses should be aware of?

Larissa Brophy, MS, RDN: The biggest trend we're seeing right now is processed foods. I mean, it's all over the media and the news. About 70% of the American diet in general is one form or another of processed foods. So, I think that is something that we've started to incorporate into our guest lectures that we do within the nursing courses to make students more aware of how that is impacting the health of our nation.

And so, I think that's definitely a trend as well as some of the upcoming policy changes that we are starting to see in funding of resources. Those are things that should be on the nurse's radar because it does impact the ability of patients or the population in general to adhere to nutrition guidelines that we're promoting as healthcare providers.

Host: And just, I think maybe the cost of food. The cost has gone up so high. So, I'm just thinking, I wonder if certain neighborhoods, people cannot afford that. So, you go toward the more affordable options, which as you said are processed. What do you hope students take away from the nutrition component by the time they graduate?

Larissa Brophy, MS, RDN: I think our biggest focus is making sure that the information that we're giving patients or community members is evidence-based, that we are not giving anecdotal information or information that has not been shown to be effective. And that has historically happened in healthcare because if it works for us, we're excited to share it. Like, "Okay, I did this diet, you should give it a try, because I know you just stated you've been trying to lose weight" or whatever the case may be. But we don't want to lead patients or community members down a rabbit hole of incorrect, inappropriate, and potentially harmful nutrition practices. And so, really, I think the bottom line is we want nurses and other healthcare professionals to be very evidence-based in their approach with nutrition. You know, the thing with nutrition is it affects every aspect of our body from our life and body from the time we get up until the time we go to bed, we shop, we cook, and I think it's just very difficult for people to navigate the nutrition landscape honestly. If they're given different information from different healthcare providers, they cherry pick that and they say, "I'm going to do this. I like what you said, I don't like what the dietician told me, because that's hard." So, we all have to be on the same page if we're going to change the health of this nation. And as we know, health, it continues to deteriorate in a lot of aspects. The cost of healthcare, the cost of food.

Host: Thank you so much for sharing your expertise on this really important topic that basically impacts us all at one time or another. So, we appreciate you being here today.

Larissa Brophy, MS, RDN: thank. You. I'm glad you had me.

Host: Again, that's Larissa Brophy. Learn more about Mount Carmel College of Nursing at mccn.edu. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out our entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. Thanks for listening to Careers in Care, a Mount Carmel College of Nursing podcast.