Dietectic Internship Frequently Asked Questions

What About Program Accreditation?

The Dietetic Internship Program of the Indiana University School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) Department of Nutrition & Dietetics is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetic Education (CADE) of the American Dietetic Association.

CADE is a specialized accrediting body recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation and the United States Department of Education. The address and phone number of CADE are: 120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60606, (312) 899-4876.

What Is The SHRS Dietetic Internship Mission Statement?

The mission of the Dietetic Internship Program is to provide the intern with advanced education and supervised practice opportunities that will assist the intern in achieving the CADE 2008 Competencies/Learning Outcomes for Dietetic Internships. This will be accomplished by combining course work and practicum experiences designed to meet the competencies and learning outcomes expected of entry-level dietitians. It is anticipated that when the intern successfully completes the dietetic internship the intern will be a dietetic professional and future leader in the application and advancement of dietetics.

What Is The SHRS Dietetic Internship Program Structure?

A typical internship week begins with class day on Monday. Tuesday through Friday (32 hours or 4 days) and occasional weekends and evenings are reserved for internship practicum rotations.

What Happens On Monday Class Days?

1. Practicum Pre-Rotation Tests

   The morning begins with practicum pre-rotation tests. The intern will receive a study guide for each practicum experience that has a pre-rotation test requirement. The purpose of the pre-rotation test is two fold: (1) to ensure that the intern has sufficient knowledge and skills to benefit from working with preceptors and (2) to assure that the intern will not pose a danger to clients. Interns are required to achieve a score of 80% or greater on each pre-rotation test. If the intern does not, the intern will take a day off from the practicum as a study day and make up the pre-rotation test the next day. The hours the intern misses at the practice site must be made up.

2. Reflection On The Previous Week’s Practicum Experience

   The intern will keep a weekly electronic journal of practicum experience. Interns share their experiences with the entire class in “Talk Back”. Here interns report on their previous week’s activities at the supervised practice sites. These reports form the “spring board” for discussions on leadership, management techniques, and medical nutrition therapy issues. This is a time for group sharing and critical problem solving. Any information brought forward during “Talk Back” is confidential and may not be shared outside the classroom.

3. Graduate Nutrition Courses

   Dietetic interns will enroll in four formal courses representing a total of eight master’s level credit hours. These courses form the didactic or classroom portion of the program and are not a repeat of undergraduate courses. These classes are N544 Medical Nutrition Therapy (3 credits), N563 Research Methods in Dietetics (3 credits), N567 Management Issues in Dietetics (1 credit), and N591 Seminar in Nutrition and Dietetics (1 credit).

When And Where Do The “Hands-On” Practicum Experiences Of The Dietetic Internship Take Place?

The supervised practice component of the Dietetic Internship Program (N590) takes place at selected hospitals, clinics, community outreach programs and township school districts located in central Indiana. There are approximately 55 sites and roughly 155 volunteer preceptors who participate in the Dietetic Internship Program. The sites hosting dietetic interns vary a bit from year to year depending on the ability of each site to host a dietetic intern. The majority of our sites are in Marion County; however; some participating sites are located in surrounding counties. The internship supervised practice component is scheduled to spread driving to distant sites as evenly as possible throughout the class.

The Dietetic Internship Program Supervised Practicum Experience (Rotations) includes 6 weeks of community experiences, 12 weeks of food system management experiences, 15 weeks of clinical nutrition related experiences, 4 weeks of self-selected experiences and attendance at FNCE (2008) or other selected professional meetings.

Supervised practice experiences (32 hours/week) are usually scheduled Tuesday through Friday, although an occasional weekend or late evening may occur. The Dietetic Internship Program provides a total of 1,232 hours of supervised practice experience.

When Will I Receive My Rotation Assignments? Where Will I Start?

The dietetic internship class will be assigned to their rotation sites in late August. Eight dietetic interns will be scheduled to start their clinical nutrition and some community experiences while the remaining eight dietetic interns will be scheduled for food systems management experiences and community experiences. In January, the eight dietetic interns who completed the clinical nutrition experiences will transition into food systems management experiences while their counterparts will be introduced to clinical nutrition experiences. The latter part of May and June (4 weeks) is reserved for special concentration experience in Clinical and Customer Services.

What Are The Supervised Practice Rotations And How Long Are They?

Clinical Nutrition Rotations include the following:

• Clinical Nutrition Block I (4 weeks/16 days, 128 hours)

  The intern will be introduced to the basics of patient nutritional assessment, interview and education skills, and charting and will provide nutrition therapy to patients, including those requiring enteral feeding.

• Clinical Nutrition Block II (6 weeks/24 days, 192 hours)

  The intern will provide nutrition therapy to more complex patients, including those requiring parenteral feeding.

• Diabetes Rotation (2 weeks/8 days, 64 hours)

  The intern will experience diabetes both as a caregiver and as a “patient”. The intern will inject a saline solution, monitor blood glucose levels and live on a diabetic diet during this rotation.

• Renal Outpatient Clinic Rotation (2 weeks/8 days, 64 hours)

  The intern will work with stable renal dialysis patients in clinic settings.

• Pediatric Rotation (1 week/4 days, 32 hours)

  The intern will be introduced to the unique nutritional requirements of hospitalized children in a tertiary care setting.

Food Systems Management Rotations include the following:

For the bulk of these experiences (9 weeks, 36 days, 288 hours) the intern will be scheduled at one site.

• Food Systems Core Rotation (9 weeks/36 days. 288 hours)

  The intern will be introduced to food production, purchasing, management, marketing and finance as applied to food systems management. This rotation is usually scheduled in blocks of at least 3 to 4 weeks’ duration.

• Extended Care Rotation (3 weeks/12 days, 96 hours)

  The intern will be introduced to nursing homes and assisted living programs. This is a blended rotation that includes a mix of food service and the provision of nutrition therapy to patients. This rotation includes special attention to patient hydration issues and drug side effects and interactions.

Community Nutrition Rotations include the following:

These rotations are scheduled throughout the food systems management and clinical rotation blocks.

• Women’s, Infants and Children (WIC) Program (1 week/4 days, 32 hours)

  The intern will be assigned to a WIC clinic in central Indiana at one of three sites (Indianapolis, Shelbyville or Franklin). The intern will assess, interview and educate low-income mothers and their children.

• Community Services Experience (1 week/4 days, 32 hours)

  The intern will be involved in three short-term experiences including Congregate Feeding, Meals on Wheels, Marion County Food Borne Safety Inspections, a soup kitchen and food pantries and the YMCA After School Program.

• Indianapolis Area Township Schools (2 weeks/8 days, 64 hours)

  The intern will be assigned to one of the township schools where the intern will have the opportunity to participate in the management of school feeding and in nutrition education activities.

• Community Clinics (2 weeks/8days, 64 hours)

  The intern will be assigned to one of the community clinics associated with Wishard Hospital and will work with a variety of patients in the community setting.

Are There Professional Development Activities In Addition To The Rotations?

Professional Development Activities are considered to be a part of N590 Dietetic Internship. Dietetic interns will attend three days (24 hours) of selected professional meetings during the Dietetic Internship Program. The 2007-2008 class attended the Indiana Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition meeting, the Purdue University Research Update in Nutrition meeting and one day of the Indiana Dietetics Association Spring Meeting. The 2008-2009 class attended the American Dietetic Association Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) in Chicago, Illinois, October 25-28, 2008.

Throughout the year, various meetings and workshops will occur in central Indiana. Often dietetic interns accompany preceptors to these meetings. Occasionally a speaker will be scheduled on Monday afternoons to discuss issues of interest.

What Can The Intern Expect As To Time, Energy And Costs?

The Dietetic Internship Program is rigorous. The intern will spend, at a minimum, between 54 and 60 hours per week on graduate classes, practicum rotations, projects, reading assignments and homework. The graduate courses include projects, assignments, quizzes and tests in addition to those assigned by the Preceptors in the practice sites. Intern will often find themselves working on several projects simultaneously. Interns are expected to drive to their practicum sites. A car, car insurance, and a driver’s license are needed. Please consider the cost of car maintenance and fuel in budget calculations.

We advise against a regular job during the internship. Many dietetic interns, as undergraduates, successfully combined part-time work and full course loads. This may not be possible with graduate-level education, as work performance demands are significantly greater than the intern previously experienced. The Dietetic Internship Program strongly encourages dietetic interns to seriously consider the impact of working outside of the internship on their ability to successfully complete the internship.

What About Financial Aid?

Dietetic Internship Program interns are eligible for student financial aid through IUPUI.

In addition, dietetic interns are eligible for the Arlene Wilson Scholarship. This $500 award honors Ms. Arlene Wilson, the director of the Dietetic Internship Program from 1962-1978. Ms. Wilson is a past president of the American Dietetic Association and winner of the Copher Award, the highest award given by the ADA.

All applicants to the Dietetic Internship Program should consider applying to the ADA Foundation for Scholarships. Please visit the ADA website at www.eatright.org for details. For additional scholarship opportunities, contact state and local dietetic associations. Be aware that most of these groups have deadline dates for scholarship applications that are about the same time that the internship applications are due. Check the dates.

Are There Any Breaks During The Internship?

There are three (3) weeks of vacation during the Dietetic Internship Program. These include one week at Thanksgiving, one week at Christmas and one week at New Year’s.

Other holidays include Labor Day, Martin Luther King Day and Memorial Day.