Vanderbilt Dietetic Internship

Following completion of Rotation Readiness, dietetic interns begin working one-on-one with their preceptors and patients in the adult and pediatric hospitals as well as the outpatient clinics.  A total of 7 weeks is spent working with adults in Vanderbilt Medical Center; three weeks with pediatric patients at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt and 3 weeks in the outpatient clinics working with adults and pediatric clients.  Experiences include:

• Daily rounds with the medical or surgical teams
• Nutrition assessment, diagnosis, intervention, monitoring and evaluation
• Computerized medical record documentation
• Counseling
• Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition Support
• Strong emphasis on critical care nutrition through rotations in 9 different intensive care settings

Examples of 2011 - 2012 Clinical Nutrition Therapy rotations include:

• Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU)
• Trauma Unit
• Intensive Care Unit (ICU):  trauma step down unit, eating disorders, burn intensive care unit, surgical intensive care unit, neuro intensive care unit
• Med/Surg
• Oncology (including bone marrow transplantation)
• Acute Care Geriatrics
• Pediatrics (neonates through adolescents in Children's Hospital)
• Outpatient Clinics - adult and pediatrics (renal, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, lipid, metabolic disorders, pediatric obesity, sports medicine, gastroenterology, spina bifida, down syndrome, bariatric surgery)
• Nutrition Support (adult parenteral nutrition, pediatric parenteral nutrition)

Clinical Nutrition Staff Experience
To cap off 13 weeks of clinical nutrition rotations, interns select an area of clinical practice for their specialty staff experience.  During this two week rotation, they function independently as an entry level dietitian.  Examples of specialty staff experience sites from 2011 - 2012 class include:
 

• Medical Intensive Care Unit
• Trauma Unit
• Geriatric Acute Care Unit
• Pediatric Nephrology
• Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis
• Pediatric General Medicine
• Med/Surg Unit
• Pediatric/Adult Diabetes Clinic