Internship Experiences

Learn through experience in a wide variety of work environments.
In this Section

Interns will generally be scheduled for experience at six or more facilities: one clinical, one public health, one outpatient clinic, one school food service, one hospital food service, and one agency on aging. Supervised practice sites will be assigned based on the intern’s prior experiences and site availability. Geographic preferences are taken into consideration when possible. The average length of time spent at each supervised practice site is shown below; this listing does not represent the order of site assignment.

  • Public Health -- 5 weeks
  • School Food Service -- 5 weeks
  • Hospital Food Service -- 2 weeks
  • Inpatient Clinical -- 11 weeks
    (Hospital and Long-term Care)
  • Outpatient Clinical -- 5 weeks
  • Choice Week – 1 week

The Choice Week is the intern’s opportunity to choose either (1) to spend an extra week at one of the scheduled rotations to strengthen skills, or (2) to select a pre-approved site to participate in another practice experience or to gain knowledge about nontraditional options for Registered Dietitians. 

Interns also attend professional conferences related to nutrition and dietetics. They will receive a rotation schedule at least 30 days prior to starting the internship. They also will be consulted regarding any personal circumstances that might affect the final schedule in order to minimize schedule modifications during a supervised practice experience.

Internship Grievance Procedure

The majority of interns with the UW-Stout Dietetic Internship Program will complete their internship without ever pursuing a complaint against another intern, a preceptor, internship director or the university. However, if you believe you have a reason to file a complaint, the internship and university are obligated to listen. The UW-Stout Dietetic Internship has established procedures to respond to intern complaints in a fair and equitable manner. Retaliation against individuals who initiate complaints or cooperate with the investigation is contrary to university policy. Retaliatory behavior is itself a form of misconduct that may form the basis for disciplinary action. Retaliation for filing a complaint against another intern, preceptor or internship director is prohibited. If you have complaints related to competencies and projects for the internship, complaints related to Supervised Practice Rotations, complaints related to Supervised Practice Preceptors, complaints related to Internship Director, follow the procedure below:

  1. Address the complaint(s) with the internship director.

  2. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the meeting, or if you are uncomfortable confronting the internship director, take the complaint to the chair of the Food and Nutritional Science department.

  3. If the resolution is not achieved then, contact the dean of the College of Education, Health, Hospitality and Human Services.

  4. If after all other options have been exhausted, contact ACEND 

Intern complaint procedure using ACEND

  1. The Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) will review written complaints from interns and preceptors that relate to a program’s compliance with the accreditation/approval standards. The council is interested in the sustained quality and continued improvement of dietetics education programs but does not intervene on behalf of individuals or act as a court of appeal for individuals in matters of admission, appointment, promotion or dismissal of faculty, staff or students. NOTE: unresolved complaints against the UW-Stout DI related to the ACEND accreditation standards may be submitted in writing to ACEND only after all other options with the program and UW-Stout have been exhausted. The complainant (ie: intern or preceptor) will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint. A copy of the full complaint policy is available upon request. The UW-Stout DI follows the UW-Stout student grievance policy and procedures through the Dean of Students office.

  2. ACEND 120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2000 Chicago, IL 60606-6995 312-899-4876

  3. A copy of the accreditation/approval standards and/or the commission’s policy and procedure for submission of complaints may be obtained by contacting the Education staff at The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics at 120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2000, Chicago, Illinois 60606-6995 or by calling 1-800-877-1600 extension 4872.