ACEND Nutrition in Medical Education Microcredential

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and ACEND support efforts to strengthen nutrition education in medical schools and health professions training by helping nutrition and dietetics programs partner with medical schools and implement curricula through a flexible, competency-based microcredential and practical resources.

The Academy and ACEND's shared goals for this initiative are to:

• Increase nutrition literacy in the healthcare system which serves the Academy’s mission
• Support the partnership with medical schools to co-develop and deliver nutrition curricula
• Advocate for interprofessional models that emphasize referral to and collaboration with RDNs

ACEND Nutrition in Medical Education (NME) Microcredential

The ACEND Nutrition in Medical Education (NME) Microcredential is a program-level framework that helps ACEND-accredited nutrition and dietetics programs leverage existing curricula to educate medical and health professional students, aligned to ACEND's program competencies and the Medical Education Nutrition Framework.

Programs are well-positioned to serve as microcredential providers by chunking existing course content into discrete, competency-mapped microlearning units that serve as the foundational building blocks that can be delivered to medical students, resident physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and other allied health professionals, including health coaches.

 Through the microcredential, learners will:

• Recognize when nutrition care is needed
• Understand nutrition's role in preventing and treating chronic disease
• Collaborate with Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) as essential members of the interprofessional healthcare team
• Refer patients to RDNs for specialized nutrition care

The NME competency framework covers:

• Foundational Nutrition Knowledge
• Nutrition Assessment and Diagnosis
• Collaboration, Referral, and Patient Management

Programs interested in pursuing ACEND quality-approval for the NME microcredential, or seeking additional information, should contact ACEND via email.

Flexible Models for Integrating Nutrition Education

There is no one-size-fits-all model for nutrition education in medical schools. Institutions have different curricula, timelines, resources and partnerships. The Academy and ACEND are identifying flexible approaches that schools can adapt.

Models may include:

• Existing course enrollment
• Guest lectures or short modules
• RDN-physician co-teaching
• Culinary medicine
• Teaching kitchens
• Case-based or block-based integration
• Interprofessional education
• Electives or certificates
• Microcredential pathways
• Clinical experiences focused on nutrition care and referral

Each model should reinforce the same core goal: helping future physicians understand nutrition; recognize when specialized care is needed; and collaborate with RDNs as part of the healthcare team.