URI-Sodexo MS Dietetics Graduate Program

• Overview
• Admission
• Curriculum
• Tuition
• Faculty
• Supervised Experiential Learning
• Policies and Procedures

Supervised Experiential Learning

Rotation Descriptions/Applicable Courses

Below are hours and general descriptions for each rotation.

Total Supervised Experiential Learning Hours: 1024 hours

Clinical Rotation: 448 hours – Applied Medical Nutrition Therapy 1, 2, and 3

This rotation consists of hospital-based experiences, where students will conduct nutrition assessments, provide counseling and education, and practice clinical leadership skills with a variety of patients and disease states. Students will be expected to perform with increasing competence and independence through the course of the rotation. Students will provide staff relief for dietitians in their assigned practice site upon successful completion of the clinical rotation. Staff relief provides students with an opportunity to practice their patient care clinical skills as well as leadership skills in managing their own patient care workload.

Long-Term Care Rotation: 32 hours – Applied Medical Nutrition Therapy 1

In a long-term care site, students will become familiar with the procedures and forms that are required by state and federal mandates and learn about the dietitian’s role in providing nutrition care as part of an interdisciplinary health care team. Students will notice the differences in care, treatment and philosophy of care between the acute care found in hospitals and resident centered care found in long term care settings.

Foodservice Management Rotation: 160 hours – Applied Foodservice Management

Students will learn how a foodservice operation functions and will begin to develop leadership and management skills through observation and practice. Students will gain experience in production, purchasing, inventory control, food safety and sanitation, human resource management, patient food services, quality assurance, finance, sustainability and retail operations. Students may complete this rotation at their clinical site, or at one of Sodexo’s corporate, campus or K-12 school facilities. This gives students an opportunity to experience management in a non-healthcare setting.

Patient Service and Clinical Nutrition Management Rotations: 64 hours – Applied Medical Nutrition Therapy 1

Students will spend 32 hours in patient service usually prior to starting their clinical rotations, and 32 hours in clinical nutrition management during or after their clinical rotations.  The patient services rotation serves as an introduction for the student to learn how patient’s order and receive meals, and how the diet office or call center functions as the hub of the food and nutrition services department.  As part of these two rotations, students will spend time with a clinical nutrition manager and/or patient services or operations manager; experiencing the interconnection between the clinical nutrition unit, the hospital community and administration. Some activities that students will experience include participation at hospital-wide and department committees, participation in writing the clinical or diet office schedule and/or the clinical staffing model, facilitating a clinical, diet office, or department staff meeting, reviewing policies and procedures related to federal regulatory compliance, and working on a performance improvement quality assurance project.

Community Rotation: 160 hours – Applied Community Nutrition and Health Promotion

Students will spend time in a variety of community settings. Students will become familiar with the variety of community and public health opportunities available and will gain proficiency in providing nutrition counseling and education in an outpatient or community setting, with both individuals and groups. Students will work with a variety of age groups and populations. Exposure to a community based public health WIC-like setting, outpatient nutrition counseling, and a school-based community setting must be included as part of the program requirements.

Concentration Rotation: 160 hours – Applied Specialization in Dietetics

All students will complete one of ten concentrations— Critical Care MNT, Diabetes, Pediatrics, Leadership, Oncology, Management, Wellness, Weight Management, Culinary Nutrition, or Senior Living. Area of concentration will depend on the student’s interest and availability of resources in the student’s region. This rotation allows students to focus on a specific area of interest and provides individuality for the students learning experience.

The following criteria must be met for SEL sites to be appropriate:

• Site
  • The site must have the resources and learning opportunities available for the student to meet the specific competencies designated for the site
  • The site must have adequate resources to provide support to the student’s learning process
• Preceptor
  • The preceptor must have the training, necessary skills, and time to be able to observe, and evaluate the student’s performance of the specific competencies designated for the site.
• Site Agreement
  • For sites where a student will be interning for greater than 16 hours, the student must obtain a signed site agreement and preceptor resume or qualification form from each location. This form will be sent to the SEL Director or Associate SEL Director prior to the start of the rotation.
  • The Site Agreement and Preceptor Resume or Qualification Form will be kept on file and the facility will be added to the SEL sites data base.