St. Louis VAMC Dietetic Internship Rotations
Interns have rotations at both divisions of the St. Louis VA Medical Center as well as affiliate sites in the St. Louis community. An approximate breakdown (subject to change) of the rotations is as follows:
- 16 weeks clinical
- 9 weeks management/administrative
- 4 weeks outpatient and group teaching
- 7 weeks community
- 4 weeks staff relief
- 1 week pediatrics
- 1 week orientation
- 1 week vacation
Clinical rotations make up the largest portion of the internship’s 43-week program. The clinical experience is divided into several rotations that provide interns both broad based and in-depth experiences in nutritional care.
Most clinical rotations are two to three weeks in length. Interns naturally progress from general to specialty rotation areas. Clinical rotation areas include medicine, cardiology, geriatrics/rehab, psychiatry and substance abuse, spinal cord injury, nutrition support and renal disease.
Management/administrative rotations are planned to provide interns with a variety of food service systems management experiences. Rotations include food production and procurement, food service systems, personnel management, and administrative experience. In addition to learning about food service operations and management styles, interns will plan and supervise a new menu implementation project and will complete an administrative project for the medical center.
Outpatient rotations and opportunities for group teaching take place in our outpatient nutrition clinics, our diabetes firm, and our Managing Overweight Veterans Everywhere (MOVE) program. Interns spend time providing one-on-one counseling for veterans with nutritionally related health problems such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Our diabetes firm is a multi-disciplinary diabetes clinic that provides interns opportunities to work with other health care professionals as well as learn about a variety of aspects of disease management for patients with diabetes. Interns also have opportunities to teach group classes in their outpatient rotations and our MOVE program for veterans and employees.
Community rotations include rotations with Operation Food Search, WIC, and a School Outreach Program. Our community rotations allow interns to learn about local, state, and federal programs for low income populations. Interns learn about issues facing those with limited access to health care as well as issues related to food security and challenges faced by the hungry. Interns become familiar with social determinants of health and observe first hand how one's physical environment affects food choices. Interns participate in a food stamp challenge and teach nutrition classes to a variety of population groups in the St. Louis community.
In addition to planned community rotation experiences, interns will also be given several opportunities to participate in community health and wellness projects and programs ranging from an after school program for overweight children and adolescents to teaching nutrition classes and assisting in community health fairs and educational projects in the St. Louis community. Throughout the course of the internship, interns will also take field trips to various community settings.
Staff Relief rotations are planned after clinical and outpatient rotations are completed. Interns are given the opportunity to manage the full clinical load of an inpatient or outpatient dietitian. The staff relief experience is a confidence-builder that is designed to prepare the dietetic intern to work as an entry-level dietitian upon graduation.
Pediatrics rotation provides interns’ exposure to broad range pediatric populations with a variety of nutritional and medical challenges. While the pediatric rotation is primarily observational, interns quickly learn about unique challenges in the pediatric setting. Interns are also given opportunities to work with pediatric patients/clients in community rotations.
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