Dietetic Internship Schedule, Rotations, and Projects

Internship Experiences

  • Program onboarding and orientation beginning in August in conjunction with master’s classes
  • Weekly orientations specific to the internship in October, 1 day/week
  • Clinical weekly orientation continuing in November or March, culminating in a week of general practice with one preceptor
  • Daily rotations in 37 weeks from January through December using the following in practice blocks

Clinical

12, 1-week rotations, including 2 weeks of staff responsibility

You will practice the role of the Registered Dietitian Nutritionist in the hospital setting. Interns complete the nutrition care process, including electronic medical record documentation and implementation of nutrition interventions.

  • Cardiology
  • Critical Care
  • Trauma
  • Medical/Surgical
  • Oncology
  • Advanced Care
  • Rehab
  • Renal
  • Pulmonary
  • General

Community

7 weeks as 1-week rotations

  • Diabetes Center: In the Outpatient Diabetes Center you will learn and assume (with supervision) the role of the diabetes nutrition educator in the area of diabetes self-management training.
  • Outpatient Bariatrics: You will be involved in pre and post-operative education and nutrition care.
  • Outpatient MNT: These outpatient rotations give you an opportunity to experience nutrition counseling and education for a variety of conditions including: diabetes, weight loss, cardiovascular disease, renal failure, foods allergies, and gastrointestinal disorders. You will have an opportunity to walk through the nutrition care process with interviewing patients, observing nutrition counseling, and assisting in meal planning.
  • Public Health: You’ll spend one week with Public Health experiencing the role of the RDN in the community setting with various populations and diverse cultures. Experiences include diabetes class, WIC, and maternal and fetal medicine.
  • Private Practice: This experience highlights the creative approach within the outpatient counseling arena in a group of private practice dietitians.
  • Extended Care Facility: This rotation is designed to provide you with an introduction to clinical practice in an extended care facility. Interns will have the opportunity to work with nutrition care professionals performing nutrition assessments and interventions and will be introduced to the regulatory guidelines for extended care. Interns will gain experience with the aging population and rehab.

Advanced Experiences

9 weeks as 1-week rotations

  • Research: The Master’s and Internship combine in working with you on your own research project from start to manuscript.
  • Professional Seminar: After the majority of your internship is complete, you will have the opportunity to provide a professional seminar to staff.
  • Staff Responsibility: Following your completion of Clinical and Food Service rotations, you will cover one area as the dietitian to show your entry-level expertise.

Food Service

9, 1-week rotations, including 2 weeks of staff responsibility

You will explore large-scale food service operations with experiences in:

  • Patient Food Service
  • Retail
  • Production
  • HR and Training
  • Purchasing
  • University Food Service
  • Specific projects in a special meal event, financial systems, and performance improvement

Project Management Weeks

Flexible weeks are scheduled periodically to allow you to work on classwork and projects.

  • You will have two short projects to complete at your convenience.

Rotations and experiences may change depending upon preceptor availability.

Supervised practice is 97% in person with remaining 3% of hours in virtual applications with preceptors.