Practice Sites and Experiences

Students have the option of: *
• 6 Medical Centers
• 10 Community Hospitals/Facilities
• Renal Dialysis Centers
• Specialized Nutrition Care at Home

Community agency sites:
• Athletic and Wellness
• Diabetes and Nutrition Centers
• Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council
• Native American Indian Health Services
• Public Health
• School Nutrition
• UMaine Cooperative Extension
• UMaine Nutrition Education and Eating Decision Research Lab
• WIC (local and state offices)

*It is the Program’s responsibility to assign interns to supervised practice sites. Interns are not required to locate their own supervised practice sites and/or preceptors. Not every preference can be met, but effort is made to accommodate each intern based on individual career and educational goals, family needs, and previous experiences.

Supervised Practice for interns is 1072 hours. No credit is given and no reduction in supervised practice hours is given for previous work experience or volunteer experiences. During the fall of the first year, interns are in FSN 650 (Dietetic Internship Orientation and Applications I, 56 hours).  The remaining hours (1016 hours – FSN 681; 16 hours – FSN 652) will be from May to December the first year or January through August the second year depending on the schedule for supervised practice. In addition, the interns will receive some vacation days during their supervised practice, as per facility scheduling. A breakdown of hours follows:

HoursActivity
56Dietetic Internship Orientation and Applications I
640Clinical Dietetics
160Food Service and Management
200Community Nutrition
16Evaluation through case studies, seminar, and practice exams
1072Total