CLINICAL NUTRITION AND NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT - 2019/0

Module code: BMSM010

Module Overview

This module aims to give participants an understanding of the way malnutrition and disease influence body composition, metabolism and function especially of the gut, and nutritional demands. It will critically review the methods of nutrient delivery in a clinical setting, their effectiveness and limitations. It will also cover novel areas of nutrition support such as immunonutrition as well as organisational and ethical aspects of nutritional support.

Module provider

School of Biosciences and Medicine

Module Leader

LIVINGSTONE Callum (Biosc & Med)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Overall student workload

Independent Learning Hours: 125

Lecture Hours: 25

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

Some or all of the following topics


  • Nutritional assessment in the clinical setting

  • Assessment of clinical and functional metabolic state; assessment of gastrointestinal function in health and disease; effect of functional state on nutritional status; nutrition and immune status; effect of status on clinical outcomes

  • Metabolic stress: anorexia and starvation, injury, infection, burns, surgery, etc.

  • The gastrointestinal tract in the inflammatory state

  • Nutritional requirements and metabolic stress: macronutrients and micronutrients

  • Special clinical situations: nutritional and biochemical aspects of inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis, liver disease, alcoholism, renal disease, diabetes, cancer cachexia, stroke, multiple organ failure (in the ITU setting), malabsorption, anorexia and bulimia etc.

  • General principles of nutritional support: routes of support; including food, oral nutritional supplements (ONS), enteral nutrition (EN); appropriate use of parenteral nutrition (PN); peripheral PN; home PN and home enteral tube feeding (HETF), percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) feeding, complications of PN; refeeding syndrome; paediatric nutritional support

  • Benefits of nutritional support

  • Novel substrates, functional foods, immunonutrition

  • Common myths in clinical nutrition

  • Nutritional support teams: roles and dynamics

  • Ethical issues: case studies


Assessment pattern

Assessment type Unit of assessment Weighting
Coursework COURSEWORK ASSIGNMENTS COLLECTIVELY COMPRISING A MAX OF 5000 WORDS, WHICH MAY INCLUDE A COMPULSORY ELEMENT 100

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate that they have met the learning outcomes.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:


  • Coursework: a range of subject areas will be assessed, demonstrating learning outcomes across the range for the module.

  • Students are required to submit electronically on a set deadline two months following the module.



In order to complete the assessments students will, as a starting point, require to demonstrate knowledge obtained from the course material and reading. The essays will also require students to discuss and reflect on the material. Coursework essays are expected to be well researched and referenced.

Formative assessment and feedback


  • Students will receive feedback electronically in SurreyLearn and Module Organisers will be available for further discussion if necessary.


Module aims

  • To give participants an understanding of the way malnutrition and disease influence body composition, metabolism and function (especially of the gut), and nutritional demands.
  • To review critically, the methods of nutritional assessment, methods, effectiveness and limitations of nutrient delivery in clinical settings and at home, the role of conditionally essential nutrients, the opportunities for utilisation of functional foods and the organisation of nutritional support.

Learning outcomes

Attributes Developed
001 Explain how clinical and functional metabolic states influence nutritional needs K
002 Describe methods of assessment of clinical and functional metabolic state K
003 Discuss the way malnutrition and disease influence body composition, metabolism and function (especially of the gut), and nutritional demands K
004 Describe the different types of nutrition support K
005 Discuss the causes of malnutrition and their consequences for nutritional needs C
006 Evaluate how nutritional support is organised in a clinical setting, the range of feeds and feeding methods available, including novel substrates, and their effectiveness C
007 Interpret how nutritional requirements are affected by common clinical disease states C
008 Reflect on the methods of nutrient delivery in own clinical setting, their effectiveness and limitations, the role of conditionally essential nutrients, the opportunities for utilisation of functional foods and the organisation of nutritional support T

Attributes Developed

C - Cognitive/analytical

K - Subject knowledge

T - Transferable skills

P - Professional/Practical skills

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to be aligned with the descriptor for qualification at level 7 in the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) produced by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA)

The teaching strategy is designed to give the insight into key aspects of clinical nutrition, in particular topics of current interest in the filed. The content is intended to stimulate thinking abiut the topics.

The learning and teaching methods include:


  • Lectures (9am to 6pm during three day module)

  • Workshops (these may be included at the lecturer’s discretion)

  • Journal club (the lectures usually include discussion of scientific papers)

  • Class discussions (5-10 minutes following each lecture)

  • Pre-course reading (this is circulated to students before the module)


Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: BMSM010

Other information

This module is only available to students on the Nutritional Medicine programme.

Programmes this module appears in

Programme Semester Classification Qualifying conditions
Nutritional Medicine MSc 2 Optional A weighted aggregate mark of 50% is required to pass the module

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2019/0 academic year.