The Huntington-based Dietetic Internship (MS/DI) is a one year program that combines supervised practice and 36 hours of graduate coursework.
Dietetic internship applicants are often unsure of the best program to meet their needs. Marshall Dietetics provides an efficient one-year MS/DI program that results in the knowledge needed to become a successful entry-level Registered Dietitian Nutritionist at an affordable price.
- Gain school nutrition experience by completing your dietetic internship though Marshall. This is a niche area of dietetics and an opportunity to learn the role of the RDN in K-12 schools.
- Add more value to your future employer in community nutrition through school nutrition and grantsmanship experience, which can accelerate your career in this area of dietetics.
- Ideal applicants for our program are motivated and ready to begin working in the next 12-18 months.
Interested in learning more about our program? Join us for our open house on October 25, 2024 from 2-4pm EST. Click here to register. It’s easy: 1) learn about our program, 2) apply to our program, 3) succeed in our program.
Program Schedule and Length of Rotation
Interns will complete 24 hours of supervised practice weekly in the fall and spring semesters. In order to meet the minimum requirement of 1000 supervised practice hours, rotations are scheduled during some University holidays. Throughout the summer, interns will participate in rotations 40 hours per week. Rotation facilities are within an 80 mile radius of Huntington.
General Description of Internship Rotations
Community Outreach & Culinary Medicine
Interns will work individually and in groups to develop and present nutrition education material to members of the tri-state community, including work in Huntington’s Kitchen, a community teaching kitchen who was recently accepted into the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative through Harvard University. The culinary medicine rotation is designed to prepare students to gain experience working in a teaching kitchen with fourth year medical students through a culinary medicine curriculum. Students will gain experience in community nutrition through nutrition and cooking education.
Long Term Care
The rotation is designed to provide interns with an introduction to clinical practice in the long term care setting. Interns will be given the opportunity to work with dietitians performing nutrition assessments and interventions and will be introduced to the regulatory guidelines for long term care. The Long Term Care rotation will enable students to examine facilities with a longer length of stay, as well as furnish invaluable experience with the geriatric population.
Nutrition Education
Interns will plan, implement, and participate in the delivery and evaluation of Marshall’s Nutrition Education Program, which provides nutrition education to qualifying K-12 schools throughout southern West Virginia. This rotation enables students to interact with a variety of groups of children, improve public speaking skills, and gain a better understanding of program development and evaluation.
Out-Patient Nutrition Programs
These rotations are designed to provide students with a more in-depth look at programs delivering nutrition education in the out-patient setting. Sites utilized provide primarily diabetes, weight management, and renal education. During the rotation, students are given the opportunity to develop skills in nutrition screening and assessment, as well as individual and group education and counseling.
WIC Program
Working with local nutritionists provides students with a firm foundation in the areas of prenatal, infant, and child nutrition as well as breastfeeding. After completing the WIC rotation, students will be familiar with the program eligibility requirements, nutrients targeted by WIC, and the areas of nutritional risk identified by the program.
Foodservice Management
During this rotation, interns will gain valuable experience in a healthcare foodservice setting. The rotation will focus on the complex duties and skills required of a foodservice director/manager. Upon completion of the rotation, students should be able to function independently with little direction from the preceptor.
Introduction to Clinical Practice (Clinical I)
Introduction to Clinical Practice is designed to provide the intern with the experience necessary to begin the major clinical portion of the internship. Many interns have little or no hospital experience and will initially be exposed to things such as the diet office and screening of patients. After completing this rotation, interns should be comfortable educating patients individually or in groups, assessing nutritional needs and intervening as necessary, presenting a case study, and communicating with other health care professionals.
Clinical Practice and Staff Relief (Clinical II)
This rotation is designed to provide the intern with the remaining experience necessary to function as an entry-level dietitian. Interns have gained previous clinical experience during the Long Term Care, Out-Patient and Clinical I rotations and should be adequately prepared to screen, assess, provide an intervention and educate patients. The experience should challenge the interns with more complex cases and make them feel comfortable functioning as a dietitian in a clinical setting. Students are expected to complete a minimum of two weeks staff relief.
Nutrition & Social Media
This rotation is designed to prepare students to gain experience in planning and presenting a variety of social media videos, and writing accompanying texts for social media posts. During this rotation students will gain experience using social media to share evidence-based nutrition information. Upon completion of this rotation, students should be able to plan and implement nutrition education through media.
Hospice/Adult Nutrition
In this rotation, students will work in a variety of settings including hospice, palliative care, and adult nutrition through an adult day care program. Most interns don’t get experience in this setting, so this will be a great time to learn about this important phase of life and how nutrition plays a role. Experiences in foodservice, education, MNT, and possibly home-based healthcare are included in this rotation.
Elective Rotations
Students have the opportunity to choose two elective rotations (school nutrition director, sports nutrition, higher education, heat start nutrition, farm experiences, renal nutrition/billing/coding).
Program Completion Requirements
Upon successful completion of the following criteria, the intern will receive a Verification Statement, become eligible to take the Registration Examination, and complete the Master’s of Science degree:
- Ten months of supervised practice in selected sites, consisting of a minimum of 1000 clock hours.
- Documentation of all learning outcomes for entry-level dietitians as described by the 2022 Standards for Internship Programs in Nutrition and Dietetics.
- Final evaluation indicating competency performance of Meets Expectations or above in each supervised practice rotation.
- Self-evaluation of performance and experience after each supervised practice rotation.
- Submission of online portfolio.
- Final program evaluation upon completion of the summer I term.
- A total of 36 hours of required graduate courses with an overall GPA of 3.0 or better.
- Completion, with a passing grade, of a written and oral comprehensive examination in the final semester.
Technology Requirements
Student selected for and enrolled in the dietetic internship will complete some required internship courses online. At a minimum, a desktop or laptop computer, reliable Internet access, and a webcam and mic for course work are needed. Students will use Blackboard, Marshall’s Learning Management System, to complete online courses. Students must be proficient in the use of computers, the Internet, browsers, Microsoft Office Word, and other common applications. Blackboard support is available 24/7 and the University’s IT service desk is also available to provide technology assistance.
Academic and Program Calendar
Interns will observe the University calendar for all graduate classes. Class breaks for holidays will be indicated on respective course syllabi. Supervised practice rotations, however, may be scheduled during University holidays in order to attain the appropriate number of hours for program completion. The Internship Handbook is updated annually to reflect these dates and is provided to interns during orientation, which takes place a week before fall classes begin.