Healthy diet in primary care: views of general practitioners and nurses from Europe

BACKGROUND

Most of the national colleges of general practitioners (GPs) do not have their own dietary/nutritional tools, and GPs and nurses do not have the time, knowledge, or skills to advise their patients about desirable dietary practices.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the usefulness of a simple and practical guide on healthy diet to be used by European GPs and nurses.

DESIGN

A postal survey was mailed to 171 GPs and nurses from 12 European countries to obtain information about the usefulness of a guide on healthy diet developed by EUROPREV.

RESULTS

The perception of health professionals is that the main source of information on healthy diet for the population was the media. In all, 95% of GPs and nurses reported that the guide was useful; 93, 95, and 82% reported that the concepts were concise, easy to understand, and realistic, respectively. Also, 77% reported that the type of counselling recommended was feasible and could be applied, 94% reported that the implementation measures proposed could be effective and 88% reported that the Traditional Mediterranean Diet Pyramid is useful, but some concerns about the content were mentioned.

CONCLUSIONS

GPs and nurses from Europe think that a practical guide on healthy diet developed by EUROPREV could be used to advise patients in primary care, although the Traditional Mediterranean Diet Pyramid should be modified.