Dietetic Internship Schedule, Rotations, and Projects

Internship Experiences

  • Program onboarding and orientation beginning in August in conjunction with in person master’s classes (online master’s classes begin in May)
  • Weekly Internship orientation in September and October, 1 day/week
  • Clinical weekly orientation continuing in November or March, culminating in a week of general practice with one preceptor
  • Rotations typically change weekly, allowing for a wide variety of experiences and networking, in 4 days/week over 37 weeks from January through November distributed in these 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
  • Gastroenterology
  • Oncology
  • Advanced Care
  • Rehab
  • Renal
  • Pulmonary
  • General
  • Neurology

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 policy and WIC.
    • Community Health Improvement: You can contribute to the screening and education of our community through special events and strategies.
  • 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.

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

Advanced Experiences

9 weeks as 1-week rotations, typically in October and November

  • Research: The Master’s and Internship combine in working with you on your own research project from start to manuscript. This project gives you tools to navigate the research process in your future career and possibly achieve publication to boost your resume further!”
  • Professional Seminar: You will have the opportunity to provide a professional seminar to staff, which many interns say is a highlight of their internship!
  • Clinical Quality Improvement Project: Navigate a quality improvement project under the guidance or our Clinical Director.
  • Electives: You will be able to choose 4 weeks of electives from a list of approximately 25 options, which must include at least 2 weeks of pediatrics.  These can be chosen to build a specialty or explore different areas of dietetics!
  • Ohio Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Annual Meeting, paid for through Internship fees.
  • 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.

Project Management Weeks

Flexible weeks are scheduled periodically to allow you to work on classwork and projects. These projects may be from unfinished rotations or professional activities.

Graduation

Graduation activities will be held in December.

 

Supervised practice is 97% in person with remaining 3% of hours in virtual applications with preceptors. Premier Health laptops will be provided for supervised practice experiences.