Yale-New Haven Hospital Dietetic Internship

General information
The Yale-New Haven Hospital Dietetic Internship Program was founded in 1958 by past American Dietetic Association President, Doris Johnson, PhD, RD.

It provides an intense graduate level experience for students who have earned a bachelor’s degree in the field of food and nutrition.

This practice-based program provides future professionals with real world experience at one of the best teaching hospitals in the country.

The progressive environment enables you to successfully meet the required American Dietetic Association Competency Statements for entry-level dietitians to be eligible to sit for the Commission of Dietetics Registration examination.

As a generalist program, the internship’s mission is to “train competent, well-rounded entry-level dietitians to ensure the viability of the dietetics profession as the recognized leaders and experts in food and nutrition.”

The Yale-New Haven Hospital Dietetic Internship is currently granted accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education of the American Dietetic Association, 120 South Riverside Drive, Chicago, IL 60606, 312/899-0040, ext. 5400.

The goals and outcome measures are:

Yale-New Haven Hospital has been the primary teaching institution for the Yale School of Medicine since 1826. As a dietetic intern at Yale-New Haven Hospital, you will find yourself in a learning environment where new opportunities are plentiful. The majority of your rotations take place in the hospital, providing a consistent learning environment and the opportunity to perceive how each section of the Department of Food and Nutrition works to provide quality services.

Program overview
Twelve appointments for the new class are made in April of each year. Because this internship is a practice-based training program, not only does it prepare you to successfully meet the ADA Competency Statements for entry-level dietitians, it also provides you with the coping skills to successfully meet personal and professional challenges in the real world of today.

Upon graduation, you can expect to have a competitive advantage in obtaining employment in dietetics and in successfully passing the registration exam.

The internship is a 50-week program that begins each September and is divided into rotations of one to eight weeks in length. For many interns, the program provides a much-needed transition from the academic world into the working world. You will receive hands on training as well as written and/or oral assignments that relate to your experiences. This provides you with the opportunity to apply nutrition concepts into everyday practice.

After completing each rotation, you will give and receive feedback on progress made. Feedback proves useful to both interns and the internship. The structure of the program enables you to learn much about your abilities as well as your interests. The hospital and university offer a wide variety of opportunities in dietetics, but the program is also flexible enough to allow interns the opportunity to explore professional interests outside of the medical center.

Interns are typically scheduled for both supervised and practice experiences and class days. Class days may consist of a special lectures, presentations or field trips to association meetings, seminars, workshops and legislative conferences. Lecture topics range from nutrition support to labor relations and resume preparation.

The majority of weeks you will work Monday through Fridays. Similar to other healthcare institutions, Yale-New Haven Hospital provides food and nutrition services 365 days per year. Therefore, like the management, professional and technical staff, you will be required to work some weekends and holidays with days off during the week. Two weeks of vacation are given; with one week falling during the winter holiday period and the other week typically in the early summer. In addition, you will also have a total of five days to be used as personal and sick days.

Internship curriculum

Interns experience a wide variety of practicums providing a strong generalist foundation as outlined below:

Clinical
Clinical rotations feature a one-on-one learning environment in which you will train with a registered dietitian in his/her area of expertise.

As an intern:

• you will develop the necessary skills to recognize specific disease states and conditions throughout the life cycle
• screen and evaluate patients for nutrition risk
• assess specific nutrition needs
• diagnose nutrition problems
• provide recommendations for nutrition interventions
• apply appropriate medical nutrition therapies
• monitor and evaluate effectiveness of interventions
• disseminate accurate nutrition information to patients, families and members of the healthcare team

Clinical rotations may include, but are not limited to:

• AIDS
• cardiology
• critical care
• medicine
• oncology
• pediatrics
• psychiatry
• transplantation
• surgery

As part of your clinical experience, you will develop a working knowledge of how to adapt therapeutic diets to patients preferences and actual food. You will be introduced to numerous disease states and diagnoses and will be encouraged to investigate principles of medical and surgical treatment in order to fully comprehend how medical nutrition therapy impacts patient care.

Management
In management rotations, interns develop skills in all facets of food and nutrition, service management and administration, from front line supervisor to department director.

You will:

• conduct computer analyses
• monitor patient satisfaction and quality improvement
• become proficient in purchasing and taking inventory
• attend department and hospital meetings
• conduct audits
• modify recipes
• get involved in research planning and protocols
• experience quantity food preparation

Management rotations occur in numerous environments that may include the diet office, the patient tray lines, hospital retail units, department administration, and the National Institute of Health-funded Adult and Pediatric Clinical Research Center that includes a metabolic kitchen.

Community
By completing community nutrition rotations, interns learn to recognize and meet the demand for nutrition education for the community, clients, and healthcare professionals.

You will gain experience in disseminating nutrition information for health promotion, and disease prevention and treatment.

Your community experiences include a rotation in the outpatient nutrition clinic, where you will develop nutrition counseling skills and an awareness of the reimbursement challenges in dietetics and health care today.

Participating in community health fairs, conducting group classes, responding to consumer phone calls, and creating nutrition education materials are also components of your community experience.

As part of the community rotations, you may be involved in various specialty clinics such as medical oncology, radiation therapy, pediatric cystic fibrosis, genetics, gastroenterology, and nephrology and WIC.

You may also get a glimpse of private practice through various entrepreneurial experiences in the surrounding areas.

Special interest rotations
Interns will have the opportunity to initiate a rotation in a setting of their own choice.

This can include but is not limited to:

• dialysis
• long-term care
• rehabilitation
• school food service
• cooperative extension services
• assisted living centers
• sales
• elderly feeding programs
• food industry
• public health
• cardiac rehabilitation
• private practice
• HMOs
• clinical concentrations

Only interns who successfully demonstrate completion of ADA Core Competencies for Dietitians by passing program rotations to date are eligible. Interns will have a regularly scheduled on-call weekend. Interns are responsible for switching on-call weekends with a classmate if a special interest rotation requires the intern to be away on a normally scheduled on-call weekend.

Costs and financial aid
Interns are responsible for the costs of tuition, books, lab coats, health insurance, supplies needed for assignments, field trips, room, board, parking and travel expenses. Currently, interns are paid a bi-weekly stipend that often helps with personal expenses.

Due to the intensity of the internship program, outside employment is not encouraged as an additional source of income. However if you qualify, you are eligible to apply for guaranteed student loans at the graduate level.

See the schedule of expenses.

• Application steps
• Application checklist

A student who can demonstate maturity and an eagerness to learn and who can adapt to the rapidly paced environment of a world-class, progressive teaching hospital, will thrive in our program.

Admission to the program is very competitive. Minimally you will need to have completed an ADA Accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics and have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university.

The average GPA for incoming interns is 3.3 with a 3.6 average in major courses. However, GPAs have ranged from 2.5 – 4.0. GRE scores are required, and scores typically range from 400 to greater than 600. Letters of recommendation, as well as life and work experience, are considered equally important selection factors in determining who will most likely succeed in our program.

It is not a requirement that you have work experience in dietetics, nor is there any recency of education requirement. The selection committee carefully considers all portions of your application in making their decision.

Scheduling a visit
Though not required, prospective interns are encouraged to visit the hospital.  Generally, tours are given one-on-one with a current dietetic intern which will give you the opportunity to learn first-hand about the internship experience.  Every effort will be made to be flexible, however, times and days depend upon our current intern’s schedules.  To schedule a tour, please contact the program director via e-mail.

Intern success

Intern success is measured by your ability to demonstrate mastery of the required competencies for entry-level dietitians as defined by the American Dietetic Association.

Traditionally, interns graduating from the Yale-New Haven Hospital Dietetic Internship have been well prepared for various careers in dietetics.

By the end of the program you will demonstrate your skills by functioning in place of a staff member on one or more clinical, community, or management service.

The internship prides itself on having a 98 percent pass rate overall on the registration examination for dietitians in the past five years.

All graduates seeking employment after program completion have found jobs. Program graduates are prepared for, and accept, positions with competitive salaries in health care, business and industry, academia, government agencies, and the media.

Life in New Haven
Yale-New Haven Hospital is located in New Haven, CT considered the “Gateway to New England”

This culturally diverse city is situated between Boston and New York.

New Haven is home to Yale University, numerous fine restaurants, museums and theaters.

For more information on New Haven and all it has to offer, visit the Greater New Haven Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Last revised: May 30, 2006 (mv)

Home page URL: http://www.ynhh.org

All information is intended for your general knowledge and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. You should seek prompt medical care for any specific health issues and consult your physician before starting a new fitness regimen.