Curriculum and Schedule
Experience supervised practice rotations in over ten different sites, including hospitals, long-term care centers, dialysis centers, foodservice, community and pediatrics settings. Our team of over twenty-five preceptors and faculty focus on you being prepared and confident as you begin your career.
Rotations
The 9 month supervised practice portion of the Dietetic Internship Program provides approximately 1,064 supervised practice hours (August 2027-May 2028).
| General Orientation | 2 weeks | |
| Dietetic Intern Class | Monday, once/month | |
| Alvin C. York VA Medical Center | Clinical | 5 weeks |
| St. Thomas Rutherford | Clinical | 4 weeks |
| Dialysis Clinics | Renal | 3 weeks |
| NHC Clinical | Clinical | 4 weeks |
| NHC Food Service | Food Service Management | 4 weeks |
| LeBonheur, UT CDD | Pediatric | 1 week |
| Skyline Medical Center | Clinical | 4 weeks |
| PromptCare | Clinical, in-home | 1 week |
| NHC Staff Relief | Clinical or food service | 4 weeks |
| WIC, Meals on Wheels nutrition | Community | 1 week |
| Lebanan Special School District | Community | 2 weeks |
| Fall Break | November | 1 week |
| Winter Break | December | 2 weeks |
| Spring Break | March | 1 week |
| National Conference | October | 1 week |
Pediatric Training
One week of pediatric training will be scheduled in the spring in Memphis, Tennessee. When traveling to Memphis, housing is paid for by NHC. Some meals and gas are reimbursed. The projected cost to the intern for the Memphis rotation is approximately $100.
Staff Relief
Staff relief is scheduled at an approved NHC facility in a convenient location for minimal lodging and/or travel costs to the intern. We offer a wide range of locations across nine states where NHC facilities are located.
Weekly Schedule
The learning experience week is Tuesday-Friday, eight-hour days, four days a week for a total of thirty-two hours a week of supervised practice. The exception is during orientation, pediatrics, and staff relief, when you will report for forty hours per week.
See below for a sample schedule. Note: Rotations take place Tuesday through Friday. One Monday per month is reserved for class day.
Lectures and Classes
Interns will meet approximately once a month on Mondays for dietetic internship classes on various topics throughout the entire program. These lectures and classes are led by practicing clinicians and experts from across middle Tennessee. These classes go beyond your rotation experience to expose you to the full breadth of dietetics practice — covering areas like eating disorders, outpatient nutrition counseling, oncology nutrition, food service management, sports nutrition, diabetes management, gastrointestinal MNT, and enteral nutrition support.
Graduate Courses
For interns enrolled in an online graduate degree program, they will complete any graduate coursework on evenings, weekends and Mondays. The 15 month, fully online graduate degree (May 2027-August 2028) is completed in conjunction with the supervised practice portion of the program. Listed below is a sample of how the courses may be completed for each program.
Policy on Granting Credit for Prior Learning Experience
Graduates of ACEND-accredited didactic programs who have held post-graduate (unless otherwise approved) paid positions in the field of dietetics with responsibilities that fulfilled certain ACEND competencies may be granted credit for prior learning. In addition, applicants with a completed graduate degree may also receive credit for prior learning and all or a portion of the required graduate coursework may be replaced. It will be determined by the program director if the experience will replace a portion of a rotation or course or if an alternate rotation will be provided to provide time to focus on a special interest of the intern.
The process must be initiated prior to beginning the internship to accommodate changes in scheduling. The process for establishing credit for prior learning is as follows: 1. Intern will contact director after internship appointment to request an assessment of prior learning. If the request to assess adequacy of prior learning is verbally approved, then the intern will follow up with a written request describing in detail the prior learning experience. 2. Intern will provide contact information to verify prior learning experiences. 3. Program director will determine if prior credit replaces a portion of a rotation or course or if an alternate rotation will be provided for the intern. 4. Intern will provide official transcripts of previously completed graduate degree, if applicable.
Program Completion
After the intern has successfully completed both the DI Program and graduate degree, the Dietetic Internship Director will send the intern a verification statement. The program director will submit eligible candidates to the Registration Eligible Processing System (REPS). Interns are responsible for completing the required demographic information via email from REPS to receive authorization to take the exam.
Dietetic internship program graduation requirements:
- Complete 1,064 supervised practice hours (41 weeks)
- Graded 2.0 or higher on all supervised practice rotation projects and assignments
- Achieve an overall score of > 3.0 on each rotation (mean score of all grades for that rotation)
- Achieve a final GPA of 3.0 of higher in graduate coursework, as applicable
- Score 85% or above on NHC Monday Class tests
The students are responsible for understanding all requirements, assignments, and what’s required to complete before graduation.
