Dietetic Internship Requirements and Schedule

Program Supervised Practice Requirements and Schedule

The UIW Dietetic Internship accepts 10 interns per year for placement in San Antonio, Texas, and surrounding communities. The interns work 40 hours per week in supervised practice sites. A work schedule identifying dates of worksite placements will be provided to each intern during Orientation, which begins the third week in August prior to the start of Fall semester. Once assigned to any particular worksite, it is the intern’s responsibility to negotiate her or his work schedule with that location's preceptor. Hours and days of work will vary by location and rotation.

All interns begin the completion of supervised practice hours during September. Dietetic interns will complete supervised practice experiences by late March/early April of the subsequent calendar year. Please note that this calendar timing of supervised practice experiences is not aligned with the overall University Academic Calendar.

Each intern will complete work rotations and experiences that include the following:

Each dietetic intern also completes an additional 122 supervised practice hours during alternate supervised experiences including orientation, workshops, and other internship activities. Dietetic interns must complete a minimum total of 1,000 supervised practice hours, which includes a minimum of 700 hours in professional work settings and a maximum of 300 hours in alternate supervised experiences, as one of the requirements to receive a Verification Statement and submission of eligibility to the Commission on Dietetic Registration to take the Registration Examination for Dietitians/Nutritionists.

The UIW Dietetic Internship partners with a variety of healthcare and nutrition-service organizations in San Antonio and neighboring communities. Among these are the Christus Santa Rosa Healthcare System, Methodist Healthcare System, Resolute Health, Texas Vista Medical Center, City of San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, Fresenius Medical Care, Three Oaks Hospice, Ascension DePaul Services, San Antonio Food Bank, H.E. Butt Grocery Company, Amerita, Inc., and Eating Recovery Center.

The holidays for the dietetic interns include Labor Day, Thanksgiving week, three full inclusive weeks around Christmas and New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Good Friday, and Battle of Flowers. This reflects the official holiday schedule of the University of the Incarnate Word.

Program Didactic Requirements and Schedule

The present, and historical, structure of the UIW Dietetic Internship requires dietetic interns to enroll in four courses at the Master’s level to complete the supervised practice portion of the DI. Admission into the courses is dependent upon completion of a Didactic Program in Dietetics Verification Statement, admission to the UIW School of Graduate Studies, and either prior completion of a graduate degree or concurrent enrollment in the Master of Science in Nutrition program. For the latter, graduate credit for the DI courses may be applied toward the completion of the Master of Science in Nutrition degree at UIW. The dietetic internship itself does not provide a graduate degree.

The courses each dietetic intern must enroll in are the following:

NUTR 6100: Dietetics – This is the orientation that begins the third week in August prior to the start of Fall semester and preceding placement in supervised practice experiences.

NUTR 6200: Community Nutrition Practice – This course provides for the review of skills and knowledge and the supervised practice portion of the dietetic internship related to community nutrition services.

NUTR 6300: Foodservice Management Practice – This course provides for the review of skills and knowledge and the supervised practice portion of the dietetic internship related to foodservice management.

NUTR 6400: Clinical Dietetics Practice – This course provides for the review of medical nutrition therapy skills and the supervised practice portion of the dietetic internship related to inpatient and outpatient care.

Enrollment in these courses is split between the fall and the spring academic semesters to best facilitate financial assistance to the dietetic interns. NUTR 6200, 6300, and 6400 occur concurrently with the dietetic interns attending weekly evening class meetings throughout the year to review skills and knowledge necessary for overall completion of the dietetic internship. Class meetings conclude in late March/early April coinciding with the completion of supervised practice experiences by the interns.

Course grades for these classes are awarded at the end of the spring semester. Each dietetic intern must obtain a minimum grade of "B" in each of NUTR 6100, 6200, 6300, and 6400 as one of the requirements to receive a Verification Statement and submission of eligibility to the Commission on Dietetic Registration to take the Registration Examination for Dietitians/Nutritionists.

Credit for Previous Work Experiences

Some dietetic interns may enter the program with extensive work experience in the area of dietetics. Once matched to the UIW Dietetic Internship, an intern may petition to substitute work experience for rotation experiences for which they believe they have fulfilled the expected competencies.

To qualify for substitution, the work experience must have occurred within the last five years and for a minimum of six months. The intern must provide a portfolio containing detailed description(s) of work experience(s), including location, job responsibilities, and supervisor or administrator name and contact information. The supervisor or administrator should verify that the intern worked in the described experiences by letter of affirmation with signature, and possibly, a phone interview with the Dietetic Internship Director.

The Dietetic Internship Director, upon verifying competency has been met by work experience, may allow a substitution for internship rotations or experiences. Supervised practice rotations of two weeks duration or less (e.g., WIC) may be waived in their entirety based on previous work experience. The major rotations of General Clinical and Foodservice Management under no circumstances will be waived 100%; at a minimum, two full-time weeks of practice experiences within these rotations must be completed as part of overall program supervised practice. At a maximum, the equivalent to one-third of the program experiences (about 350 practice hours) may be waived based on substituted experience.

Between accepted work experience and supervised practice experiences in the internship, an intern must complete at least 1,000 practice hours to meet one of the requirements to receive a Verification Statement and submission of eligibility to the Commission on Dietetic Registration to take the Registration Examination for Dietitians/Nutritionists.

Program Completion

To receive a verification statement and to have paperwork submitted to the Commission on Dietetic Registration demonstrating eligibility to take the Registration Examination for Dietitians, dietetic interns in this program must demonstrate the following:

1. A minimum of 1,000 supervised practice hours, which includes a minimum of 700 hours in professional work settings and a maximum of 300 hours in alternate supervised experiences
2. A minimum grade of “B” in each of NUTR 6100, 6200, 6300, and 6400
3. A minimum average score of 3.0 (“Satisfactory”) out of 4.0 by preceptors on the Specific Skills portion of the evaluation forms for each required rotation
4. Proof of completion of a graduate degree, either a previously earned graduate degree or completion of the Master of Science in Nutrition degree from UIW

At the completion of all rotations and when all evaluation forms and assignments have been submitted and evaluated by the Dietetic Internship Director, the dietetic interns will fill out necessary paperwork for submission for eligibility to the Commission on Dietetic Registration. Upon receipt of proof of completion of a graduate degree, the Dietetic Internship Director will provide ACEND Verification Statements to interns when registration eligibility is submitted.