The first 12-week internship will be in UKM Hospital, an alternating eight weeks in both University Hospitals and General Hospitals. These objectives cannot be achieved without the assistance and commitment of all dietitians in Malaysia. Undergraduate medical course Nutrition in the medical curriculum is taught both in the preclinical and clinical years. However, the medical students perceive it as unimportant and are unable to see the link to a patient's medical management. They do not have the confidence to transfer that knowledge to patients due to limited theoretical input and limited emphasis on clinical nutrition during bedside teaching.
Nutrition carries only one credit unit in the second preclinical year.
In the clinical years, clinical nutrition is taught in the second clinical year for four hours during the community health posting. In the third clinical year, students have the opportunity to focus on the clinical nutritional management in one of three cases and write it up during their medical posting. It may be even more effective if clinicians emphasize clinical nutrition where appropriate during bedside teaching. In 1993, the Department of Community Health, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia offered specialization in nutrition in the Master of Public Health. To fulfil this specialization, students are required to take up seven credit units on the clinical nutrition course out of the 17 credit units of nutrition components.