Preventive Medicine as a Part of Nursing Curricula

Introduction

1. Attention getter: Unhealthy habits of American citizens, including poor diet and lack of exercise led to the unfortunate decline in life expectancy, as currently, it is 1.5 years below the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average (Woolf and Aron 1). Therefore, it is important to address these issues and comprehend all the factors that can change the ongoing situation.
2. Introduce the topic/product: The solution to these problems is preventive medicine.
3. Credibility statement: I have been studying the topic of preventive medicine for several years, which enabled me to realize the importance of its implementation while fighting against various illnesses.
4. Preview: The urgent need to make individuals stronger and medical professionals more prepared can be satisfied by learning more about benefits of diet and exercise, which will bring various long-term health benefits and prolong life expectancy.

[Transition] After discussing the problem of declining life expectancy, let’s talk about the reasons why preventive medicine needs to be introduced.

Body

Main Point 1: Need/Problem. Preventive medicine needs to be an essential part of nursing curricula because of the population’s unhealthy habits and current lack of proper education.

1. Sub point 1. A joint panel of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine discovered that various parts add to the health deprivation in the United States. For example, did you know that Americans are more likely to have unhealthy habits, such as extensive consumption of high-calorie foods and substance abuse than various other countries (Woolf and Aron 1)? Moreover, Americans tend to live in cities created for cars rather than walkers or cyclists. Therefore, the overall lack of healthy life-style needs to be addressed, as it leads to adverse long-term health effects.
2. Sub point 2. A study by Mogre and other scholars discovered that most medical students that participated in their research believed that the utilization of nutrition science to the clinical application was insignificant (5). Overall, the nutrition lectures they had were not satisfactory, particularly throughout the preclinical part of their education. Thus, the visible lack of incorporation of nutrition science into clinical practice made it challenging for medical practitioners to recognize the link between nutrition and health. Lastly, students from the same study expressed concern with their nutrition training, as it did not fully include support from nutrition specialists (Mogre et al. 5). Thus, offering limited possibilities to cooperate and learn the most essential information about nutrition. Inadequate cooperation with experts made it challenging for students to acknowledge the purpose of nutrition. Therefore, the lack of cooperation in contemporary education makes it more difficult for students to gain crucial information and skills in preventive medicine.

[Transition] After discussing the need, let’s talk about appropriate solutions to the problems.

Main Point 2: Satisfaction/Solution. The solution to the poor habits and lack of education is to introduce diet and exercise to the students’ curricula.

1. Sub point 1. A healthy diet is crucial to improve individuals’ physical well-being. Eating healthy products during a person’s life assists in limiting malnutrition, a spectrum of diet-related noncontagious diseases, and chronic health conditions (WHO 7). Decreasing the quantity of overall fat consumption to less than thirty percent of total energy intake stops adult-population from gaining unhealthy weight (WHO 14). Overall, following a diet has a positive impact on one’s physical health, leading to a healthier and longer life span. Therefore, the solution is to introduce scientific information about nutrition and healthy dieting into the education curricula.
2. Sub point 2. Second, increased levels of exercising help to reduce the dangers of various physical illnesses. Exercising has a vital influence on decreasing the risks of mortality from cardiovascular disease. For example, women that do not exercise experience a “52 % increase in death, a cardiovascular disease-related death that is doubled, and a cancer-related death rate that is increased by 29 %” (Miller et al. 205). Additionally, exercising is inversely associated with the occurrence of stroke, diabetes, breast, and colon cancer. Thus, it is vital to be physically active to avoid serious diseases, and the main solution is to introduce some form of exercising as an additional treatment through learning more about its benefits in the curricula.

[Transition] After mentioning the solutions to the problem, let’s talk about long-term benefits.

Main Point 3: Visualization. Healthy eating and exercising makes people happier, which leads to improved quality of mental health and longer life expectancy.

1. Sub point 1. To begin with, eating healthy improves mental health. Research suggests that “healthy” eating preferences, such as consuming more vegetables and fruits, have physical and psychological health advantages (Wahl et al. 1). This leads to long-term health benefits and improved future well-being. For example, in a study of over 12,000 individuals, research revealed that eating fruit and vegetables predicted improvements in satisfaction, happiness, and well-being over a couple of years (Wahl et al. 1). Therefore, healthy eating habits are linked to the improved state of mental health, leading to happiness and a longer life.
2. Sub point 2. First, physical activity adds a major contribution to the treatment of various mental health problems. Exercise is proven to assist in the recovery and treatment of different kinds of depression. The benefit of approaching depression through exercise originates from an inherent anti-depressive impact of psychical activity. Physical training tends to “increase serotonin, ACTH, endorphins, and endocannabinoids within the CNS” (Miller et al. 206). Therefore, exercising is extremely beneficial while treating serious mental health problems, leading to a happier existence.

[Transition/Signpost] After reviewing three important factors of preventive medicine let’s conclude today’s speech

1. Review your main points and close with. The contemporary educational curricular is not able to offer the most suitable training for practicing specialists to battle the lack of healthy habits of the public. However, introducing healthy eating and exercising to the curricula is an optimal solution that can positively influence both the mental and physical state of patients.
2. Call to action. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) “unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are leading global risks to health” (8). To save our nation, healthcare specialists should learn more about the positive outcomes of preventive medicine to help patients fully comprehend the benefits of a healthy diet and exercising.

Works Cited

Miller, Keith, et al. “The Health Benefits of Exercise and Physical Activity.” Current Nutrition Reports, vol. 5, 2016, pp. pp. 204-212.

Mogre, Victor, et al. “Why Nutrition Education is Inadequate in the Medical Curriculum: a Qualitative Study of Students’ Perspectives on Barriers and Strategies.” BMC Medical Education, vol. 18, 2018, pp. 1-11.

Wahl, Deborah, et al. “Healthy Food Choices are Happy Food Choices: Evidence from a Real Life Sample Using Smartphone based Assessments.” Scientific Reports, vol. 7: 17069, 2017, pp. 1-8.

WHO. “Healthy Diet.” WHO Library Cataloguing in Publication Data, pp. 1-19. Web.

Woolf, Steven and Laudan Aron. “Failing Health of the United States.” British Medical Journal, vol. 360, 2018, pp. 1-2.