Auburn Research Day 2022

B i omed i ca l Resea rch | Med i ca l St udent Developing an Online Covid-19 Study: Challenges and Lessons 71

Matthew J. Gold, OMS-III 1 ; Marshall Johnson, OMS-III 1 ; Alexandra Mathis, OMS-II 1 ; Daniel Ruiz, OMS-IV 1 ; Shaheen Mehrara, OMS-III 1 ; Caroline Houston, OMS-III 1 ; Jonathan Kalenik, OMS-III 1 ; Mayra Rodriguez, PhD, MPH 1,2 Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine – Auburn 1 ; Auburn University 2

With COVID-19 being novel in terms of viral age, very limited data and research exists on this virus. The goal of our research project is to outline the lingering symptoms found in the young population. We conducted a cross-sectional study assessing participants ages 18-30 years old who will self-report their COVID-19 symptoms during and after the infection. The goal of this poster is to explain the difficulties we faced throughout the process of this study. A challenge that we continuously faced, was our survey itself. Limited data existed on COVID-19 when we first developed our study, and we continually needed to update the survey to represent this as research developed i.e., symptoms and vaccines. In addition to the differing symptoms with each mutation of the virus.

Finding a way to be visible online was challenging. We each shared the survey on our social media, but this limited to only those we networked with online. Data collection was difficult due to the general public’s negative opinion on COVID-19, the saturation of information/ misinformation online, and potential Recall bias. The overall process of developing qualitative questions and creating a survey posed as another trial. This was a novel experience for the research team. We were able to strengthen our collaboration skills and expand our experiences in research throughout this project.

Educa t i ona l Resea rch | Med i ca l St udent Assessment of Medical Student Culinary Skill and the Impact of Nutrition Literacy on Preventative Health Counseling in Patients

72

Ursula Laville, OMS-III; Alex Rotolini, OMS-III; Annie Kirby, PhD, RD, LD, CCMS Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Auburn Campus

As diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and lifestyle-factor-preventable cancers are among the leading causes of mortality and healthcare costs in the United States, physicians are a key contributor to repairing the damages done by unhealthful dietary choices. Learning to shop for and cook healthful meals can take as minimal time as a frozen or fast-food meal does but with the added benefit of health- promoting ingredients and intentionality in one’s day to continue healthful choices. This study aims to evaluate medical student dietary choices and culinary skill as it translates to comfort in counseling patients regarding nutrition. Through the Cooking with a Chef and the Medical Student Comfort with Nutrition Counseling surveys, the researchers assessed current OMS-III and IV medical students’ culinary knowledge and compared it to comfort with nutritional counseling. A pilot program with practical culinary lab time mixed with lectures is underway at the VCOM-Auburn campus. In this study, we aimed to provide background information on students’ self- reported strengths and weaknesses to identify categorical areas for curriculum development. Survey answers were further analyzed to identify meaningful clusters that illustrate trends in student knowledge predisposing them to greater clinical confidence. Forty-four OMS-III and IV students’ surveys were obtained. We found that, as students ranked their confidence in nutritional counseling on a score from 1-5 for 16 questions in the Nutritional Counseling portion, 57.14% of students ranked with extreme confidence (5/5) they could counsel on the role of dietary fiber in health with an average ranking of 4.55/5 but when asked on the dietary prevention of cancer, 33.33% of students felt uncomfortable (2/5) and 30.95% felt not certain (3/5) that they could address those concerns with patients. Overall, students

nutritional savvy in their own kitchens follows similarly. 40.91% ranked in the Cooking with a Chef survey they could plan nutritious meals with "extreme confidence," but their cooking skills portion indicated holes in basic cooking technique. Health practices were also assessed; 97.72% claimed they had raw fruits and vegetables in their home in the last week. However, in the clinical survey when asked their confidence in counseling patients on dietary sources of iron to avoid IDA, 52.38% of respondents ranked that they were somewhat comfortable (4/5) ; the mean score for that section was a 3.92/5 as 11.9% ranked ‘not certain’ (2/5) while only 26.9% ranked that as, ‘extremely comfortable,’ (5/5) which illustrates an area to address in further clinical preparation and possibly during instruction of our future physicians. Going forward, the researchers hope to use this information to guide curriculum as the Auburn campus pilot program beginning in Spring 2022 will use the Medical Student Comfort with Nutritional Counseling to assess students’ clinical comfort before and after they have participated in dedicated lecture and culinary lab time.

42