Curriculum for Medical Nutrition Education
The UNMC Dietetic Internship Program curriculum is approximately 75% supervised practice and 25% didactic, including portfolio projects. Mondays are primarily class and project days. Community and management projects associated with coursework extend throughout the fall and spring semesters.
Supervised Practice Rotations Calendar*
Orientation/evaluation: approximately 1 week
Nutrition Therapy: approximately 26 weeks plus 3 weeks staff experience
Management: approximately 5 weeks plus course-related projects
Community-Consulting: approximately 6 weeks plus course-related projects
Research: approximately 1 week plus course related projects
Vacation: 3 weeks plus 5 holidays**
TOTAL: 45 calendar weeks (mid-August to late June)
*Rotations scheduled Tuesdays-Fridays; classes/projects on Mondays
**Labor Day; Thanksgiving (Th-F); Martin Luther King Day; Memorial Day
This schedule may vary as new educational opportunities become available.
Click here to see a sample dietetic intern rotation calendar.
Start Date: August 17, 2010
Supervised Practice Experiences
Nutrition Therapy: The nutrition therapy experiences comprise more than half of the total supervised practice component of the internship. Students work under the supervision of Registered Dietitians who are Licensed Medical Nutrition Therapists (LMNT) in Nebraska. Nutrition therapy focused rotations include adult and pediatric general and specialty services in both inpatient and outpatient settings at The Nebraska Medical Center. Rotations are typically 2-weeks in length and include the following areas of service:
Adult/Geriatric General and Specialty Services
- Cardiology, Critical Care Medicine/Trauma, Diabetes, Family Medicine, Intensive Care/Burn & Wound, Internal Medicine, Neurology/Neuro-surgery, Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplant, Renal/Kidney Disease, Surger/Bariatric Surgery, Transplant (liver/small bowel/kidney-pancreas), Pediatric General and Specialty Services
- Cystic Fibrosis; Diabetes; Inborn Errors of Metabolism; Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplant; Transplant (liver/small bowel)
Management: The Nebraska Medical Center provides quality food service for its patient population, including a room service focus for inpatients. In addition, a large retail and catering operation are provided to meet the varied needs of students, faculty and staff. Dietetic interns spend a total of five weeks in Foodservice Systems management gaining hands-on experience in a variety of areas including purchasing, production, service, safety and sanitation, and human resource management (staffing/scheduling/training). Learning experiences emphasize patient foodservice while also including exposure to retail and catering operations. In addition, students are exposed to selected aspects of clinical nutrition and enteral formulary management at The Nebraska Medical Center. Management and performance improvement principles are also incorporated into independent projects and selected off campus experiences relating to long-term care and community nutrition services.
Back to Supervised Practice Experiences
Community Nutrition: Home care, long-term care, rural health nutrition, community service, and consulting dietetics experiences include observation and skill development opportunities in a variety of settings that may include:
- Child Care Centers/Public or Private Schools
- Dairy Council of Nebraska
- Employee Wellness Programs
- Home Health Care
- Long-term Care Settings
- Women, Infant and Children (WIC) Program Clinics
[Additional self-scheduled activities are included to complete portfolio requirements for the advanced community nutrition coursework associated with the UNMC Dietetic Internship Program.]
Coursework: Approximately 25% of the UNMC Dietetic Internship Program curriculum is didactic. Students participate in on-line coursework and in scheduled classes, generally on Monday of each week. In addition, they complete independent project courses and a clinical experience course that are integrated with the supervised practice experience.
Students complete fifteen (15) semester credit hours of graduate level coursework. The Advanced Community Nutrition Course is offered through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences. Remaining courses, some of which are interdisciplinary, are offered through the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The courses include*:
MNED 773: Clinical Nutrition Management (2 cr)
MNED 775: Research Methods in Medical Nutrition (3 cr)
MNED 777: Advanced Clinical Nutrition (3 cr)
NUTR 956: Advanced Clinical Nutrition (3 cr)
HPRO: Health Care Ethics (2 cr)
SAHP 531: Management in Health Care (2 cr)
*Courses/course requirements subject to change in order to meet competency/graduate program requirements
