» Student-Proposed Distance Dietetic Internship Program

In addition to the features in the regular Dietetic Internship Program, the student-proposed distance program:

• accommodates students who have specific geographical requirements due to pre-existing employment commitments, family and/or financial obligations, entry into the field of dietetics at a later point than the traditional college aged student, and any other considerations that may inhibit a student from acquiring a community-based dietetic internship experience close to home; and
• allows students to choose their own internship rotations close to home.

Simmons College accepts 6 program arranged dietetic internship placements and 2 distance arranged dietetic internship placements each year. Since the distance learning students are required to take a graduate level course that meets weekly from September through the beginning of December, and the dietetic internship discussion seminar meets throughout the internships, we expect, but do not require that potential applicants live within a two hour driving radius of Simmons College.

Curriculum

Upon acceptance into the internship program, distance-option students and preceptors will be provided with a copy of the internship curriculum to use in completion of the program in their local sites. Distance-option applicants will be required to locate their own preceptors and facilities, subject to approval by the Simmons College faculty.

The internship's distance-learning curriculum is designed to create an environment where students develop the intellectual and clinical skills of an entry-level community nutrition practitioner. The acquisition of these skills will be made possible by completion of the planned learning experiences that have been developed to meet the ADA's 47 core and 9 community emphasis competencies. In addition to meeting the core and community emphasis competencies, two separate didactic components have been incorporated into the internship curriculum, including a weekly graduate discussion seminar and monthly joint dietetic intern lecture series with other local internship programs. The graduate-level course and joint dietetic intern lecture series is required by both the in-house and distance-education students.

The graduate-level course is entitled Nutrition Program Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation. This course focuses on individual and community assessment, program planning, implementation and evaluation. The course teaches students how to set goals for nutrition programs that emphasize prevention, health improvement, and overall wellness. Students are required to plan and evaluate a program for a specified population so they can apply the various concepts introduced in the course to a real-life situation.

The Simmons College Dietetic Internship Program participates in a joint dietetic internship lecture series with the internship programs at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center, Tufts University Frances Stern Nutrition Program based at Tufts-New England Medical Center, and Mount Auburn Hospital.

Each month, one of the internship programs sponsors a full-day lecture series. Topics include:

• Nutrition Legislative Update
• Nutrition and Aging
• Pediatric Nutrition Workshop
• Nutrition Support
  
• Eating Disorder Symposium
• Sports Nutrition
  
• Establishing a Private Nutrition Practice
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
  

Distance education students are required to attend lectures. Interns meet for a weekly or bi-weekly seminar with the Dietetic Internship Director. Interns also share their cases with classmates, practice counseling skills,and develop a food and nutrition business plan.

The program curriculum will enable students to obtain the skills and knowledge necessary to:

• assess, plan, develop, implement, and evaluate community-based nutrition programs;
• provide nutrition counseling and education to a wide variety of clients in terms of age, culture and religion;
• screen, assess, and provide accurate medical nutrition therapy recommendations for individuals, groups and populations;
• demonstrate competence in food service management, including management of safety and sanitation issues, facility management, food production, and recipe and menu development; and
• take the registration exam.

Rotation Requirements
(for more information on rotation settings and student, program and preceptor responsibilities, click here

The internship experience begins with a two-three day orientation program in early September. Orientation is held in Boston, Massachusetts on the Simmons College campus. All interns accepted to the program, in-house and distance, are required to attend this orientation program. The distance students are responsible for transportation, housing, and food during orientation. The purpose of this experience is to help students make the transition between undergraduate education and the professional-practice environment, and to orient new students to the program requirements and resources available at Simmons College.

Competency Requirements and Evaluations

Students accepted to the Simmons College Dietetic Internship Program are required to meet the 47 core competencies and 9 community competencies created by the American Dietetic Association. To ensure students meet the intended competencies, a separate evaluation form has been created for each of the six rotations. Each evaluation form contains the competencies that apply to the particular rotation. Only the competencies with five stars (*****) must be met at the given rotations since they cannot be met easily in the other rotations. Otherwise, the competencies can be met in any and all of the rotations.

Formal evaluations by the student's primary preceptor are required at the middle and end of each rotation. Midway evaluations ensure that the student and preceptor agree with the student's performance and acquisition of the competencies prior to the intern's final evaluation.

Students are also required to evaluate each facility that they attended during their 30-week internship experience. These evaluations provide valuable information for the Simmons College internship director and coordinator, the student, and the preceptor. The information from these evaluations can then be used to make program modifications, if necessary.

Informal evaluations occur frequently. The facility professional may inform the intern about observed strengths or deficiencies on a daily or weekly basis. The program director or coordinator will identify problems based on feedback received from preceptors and interns. All are opportunities to gain information about performance before the final evaluation occurs and should be viewed as a positive opportunity to improve. A final exit interview with the Dietetic Internship Program director and coordinator is also conducted to provide feedback to and solicit feedback from the dietetic interns after they have completed the 30-week experience. A two to three day review session is conducted at the end of the internship to help further prepare students for the registration exam.

Expected Program Outcomes

Graduates of the Dietetic Internship Program at Simmons College are expected to be able to function as entry-level practitioners in clinical, food service, and community dietetic roles. Each is expected to operate independently with high levels of professionalism and integrity. Each is expected to be properly prepared to take the registration examination for dietitians.

Additional Information

Application Procedure: Deadlines and Requirements
Please see our admission section for information on admission to this program.

Enrollment Deposit
All applicants who are matched are required to submit a $500 non-refundable deposit by May 1. This deposit is applied to the first-term bill.

Program Scholarships
The ADA and the Massachusetts Dietetic Association award scholarships to outstanding students. Inquiries regarding these scholarships should be directed to these organizations.

Program Certificate Requirements
The verification statement of completion of the dietetic internship is awarded to students upon successful completion of the program with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0.

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