How to Apply

Finding Sites & Preceptors

All applicants are responsible for securing their own sponsoring facility and preceptor for their community rotation. Some applicants may choose to customize their internship entirely using their own sites and preceptors for all rotations (pathway #2). To assist you with finding potential preceptors in your area, visit the following Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics resource page. The DI staff will approve of rotation sites based on the ability of the site and qualified preceptor(s) to provide an appropriate learning facility/environment for interns to achieve required competencies. The DI staff will give guidance and work with interns to approve of sites/preceptors and obtain affiliation agreements for all chosen sites after admission to Horizon Specialty Hospitals DI.

If an intern chooses to find their own sites and preceptors for all rotations but fails to secure sites/preceptors to fill the required 1000 supervised practice hours, Horizon Specialty Hospitals DI Program will attempt to provide the intern with a site where an affiliation agreement is already in place. The intern may be required to relocate during this time. If the intern declines to relocate to the location of the facility that

the DI program provides, the intern may be withdrawn from the program.

Acceptable Sites & Preceptors

Clinical Rotation: The clinical rotation is 15 weeks and should provide

practical experiences using the Nutrition Care Process. The clinical preceptor must be a qualified Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. Clinical sites are required to have average patient census of 50 or greater to ensure the site can offer the intern a variety of experiences beginning with basic medical nutrition therapy and advancing to more complex, advanced medical nutrition therapy. Sites chosen for clinical rotation must be able provide the intern with all the following experiences/disease states: general medicine/obesity, cardiology, malnutrition, endocrinology, renal, GI/surgery, oncology, enteral nutrition and parenteral nutrition. If the site is unable to provide all the experiences/disease states listed above, the intern must complete one week at a facility that does (LTACH/STACH). If the intern is unable to find a facility (with the help of the program) that will provide them with one week of high acuity experience, the intern may need to relocate for one week to a facility that the program has a standing affiliation agreement with. During the clinical rotation, the intern is required to complete two-weeks of staff relief. The clinical site must be able to provide the following:

Provide interns with hands-on experiences with the Nutrition Care Process including assessment, diagnosis, intervention, monitoring and evaluation.
Allow for direct interaction with healthcare professionals and patients.
Provide the intern with all the following experiences/disease states: general medicine/obesity, cardiology, malnutrition, endocrinology, renal, GI/surgery, oncology, enteral nutrition and parenteral nutrition.
Allow intern to conduct counseling/diet educations under the supervision of preceptor.

Some examples of appropriate facilities for clinical rotation:

Food Service Rotation: The food service rotation is 5 weeks and should provide interns with experiences in food service related to nutrition. The preceptor must either be a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist or have equivalent professional and/or academic experience related to food service, such as a food service manager. Food service sites must be able to provide the following:

Hands-on experience with menu planning, production and service methods, safety/sanitation procedures, procurement, inventory, cost-control techniques and management strategies.

Some examples of appropriate facilities for food service rotation:

Community Rotation: The community rotation is 5 weeks and should be completed at a site where the delivery of nutrition/health education and services occur. The community rotation preceptor may not always be a Registered Dietitian and may include other professionals such as RNs, social workers, and/or other experts or specialists. The preceptor must have professional experience related to the rotation they are supervising. If more than one community site is selected, the primary community site must be able to allow the intern to develop or enhance an existing program/service. Community sites must be able to provide the following:

Provide a community-based supervised practice environment where the dietetic intern is given the opportunity to develop or enhance an existing program/service.
Provide hands-on experience including such activities as: contributing to new and existing projects, developing educational materials, participating in counseling and education.
If the intern was not exposed to hands-on experience with infants, children, adolescents, pregnant and lactating females in their clinical rotation, the intern must do all or part of their community rotation at a facility that provides this.

Some examples of appropriate facilities for community rotation: