Experiences and Rotation Schedule

Dietetic Internship Experiences

The dietetic internship begins with orientation and didactic classes. Interns become familiar with internship rotations and expectations. Throughout the rotations, interns will receive constructive performance appraisals of their progress and potential areas of self-improvement. Additionally, interns may have the opportunity to attend dietetic association meetings and seminars, participate on field trips and in other activities that will enhance their professional development and leadership capabilities.

Rotations

The PSU internship prides itself in the caliber of each rotation by utilizing the world-class faculty and facilities available to our campus.

Tentative Dietetic Internship: Schedule 2009 - 2010

August 16 - August 21, 2009 Orientation
August 24 - August 28, 2009 Didactic Classes
August 31, 2009 Rotations Begin
November 27-28, 2009 Thanksgiving Holiday
December 21, 2009 - January 3, 2010 Winter Break
January 5 - February 13, 2010 Rotations Start
May 31 - June 18, 2010 Enrichment Rotation
June 21 - June 25, 2010 Professional Development
June 25, 2010 Graduation
All dates are tentative and rotations subject to change.
Detailed rotation schedules are provided during orientation.

Housing

Community-based Nutrition Rotation

Community nutrition programs are becoming an increasing interest for dietetic professionals. The PSU dietetic internship offers many opportunities for interns to explore these programs. In this 8 week rotation, interns will be working with Cooperative Extension and the WIC (Women, Infant, and Children) Program in the Harrisburg, PA area. The learning experiences during the Cooperative Extension experience range from food demonstrations to developing educational materials for lower income children and adults. During the WIC experiences, interns will spend one week at the WIC State Office and the remaining three weeks at a WIC clinic. This will provide an excellent overview of these important community programs.

Medical Nutrition Therapy Rotation

The medical nutrition therapy rotation will take place at The Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, (http://www.hmc.psu.edu) located in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The medical center, home of Penn State's College of Medicine, is a 507 - bed tertiary -care teaching hospital providing specialized services in internal nutrition, oncology, renal disease, cardiology and pediatrics to residents of Central Pennsylvania. The medical center's nutrition staff includes 16 registered dietitians, half of which have completed advanced degrees. Interns will receive approximately 30 didactic hours of training in medical nutrition therapy at this site under the supervision of an internship site coordinator. The rotation will provide interns with practical experience in nephrology, trauma/critical care and pediatric units. Theory and didactic experiences will be incorporated into the practical experiences through interactive learning, case studies and special projects.

Management Rotation

The primary site for the food systems management rotation will be Masonic Villages in Elizabethton, PA. (http://www.masonicvillagespa.org/elizabethtown/) This continuing care retirement community is located on more than 1400 acres of Lancaster County Farmland. The facility accommodates 1600 residents with living arrangements from apartments and cottages to skilled nursing care. In this rotation, interns will receive a comprehensive experience while rotating through the state of the art cook chill facility, several of the dining rooms available to the residents as well as the various kitchens throughout the campus. Interns will learn the complexities of forecasting, ordering and purchasing for a large healthcare facility. In addition they will assist in sanitation inspections, employee training, quality control, and customer services. In addition, interns will spend two weeks with Giant Foods to better understand the dietitian's emerging role in the grocery store industry.

Research Rotation

The goal of the research rotation of the Penn State Dietetic Internship program is to provide dietetic interns with a comprehensive overview of clinical nutrition research, emphasizing the importance of translational nutrition research and its application to public health and dietary recommendations. During this rotation interns will spend time both at The Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and at The Hershey Company.

While at the medical center, interns will learn about nutrition research in the clinical setting, including protocol development, informed consent and institutional review board proposals, research methodologies, basic statistics and will participate in the collection of data on a research project. While at The Hershey Company the focus will be on nutrition research in a food industry setting. Interns will be exposed to the development of individual food products, recipes and menus for nutrition research studies. Other topics will include taking a healthy food product to market, communicating the results of nutrition research and food regulations and labeling.

Enrichment Rotation

The intent of the enrichment rotation is for the intern to further develop skills in an area of dietetics that interests them. Sites can include Health South Rehabilitation. Sites have included The Hotel Hershey Spa, Superbakery, San Diego Public School System, Sheetz Corporate Headquarters, Mount Nittany Medical Center (small community hospital), Centre Medical and Surgical Associates, and Blair Medical Associates.

In selecting a site for the enrichment rotation the following criterion must be met:

  1. Identify an area of interest in the field of dietetics
  2. Identify at least 10 competencies that would be met during this rotation
  3. Contact a site and preceptor to complete the rotation
  4. Have a letter of agreement from the site and preceptor detailing the competencies, experiences, and evaluation methods
  5. Submit to the Dietetics Program Director for approval by January 31st.