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Dietetic Internship Program

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VA Caribbean Healthcare System (San Juan)

The VA Caribbean Healthcare System Dietetic Internship Program is 47 weeks long (1,880 hours). The program is full-time (40 hours/week) and begins annually in August.

The dietetic interns are four days in the rotations (32 hours/week) and one day (8 hours/week) in Learning Activity Days (i.e., planned didactic class activities, projects). The interns take one week (40 hours) of vacation between the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Clinical Rotations (26 weeks)

  • Clinical Dietetic Technician (1 week)
  • Medicine (3 weeks)
  • Acute Behavioral Health Inpatient Care Unit (ABHICU) (1 week)
  • Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (1 week)
  • Oncology (2 weeks) 
  • General Surgery, Surgical Intensive Care Unit and Parenteral Nutrition (2 weeks) 
  • Spinal Cord Injury and Related Disorders (2 weeks)
  • Intensive Care/Critical Care Unit (2 weeks) 
  • Hospice Care (1 week) 
  • Community Living Center (1 week)
  • Home Based Primary Care (1 week) 
  • Hemodialysis (2 weeks) 
  • Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) (2 weeks)
  • Social Media & Video Production (1 week)
  • Women's Clinic/Home Telehealth (1 week)
  • Geriatric Clinic (1 week) 
  • Cardiology Clinic (1 week) 
  • Metabolic Clinic (1 week) 
Food Service and Management (10 weeks)
  • Food Service Administration and Purchasing (3 weeks) 
  • Menu Planning and Quality Monitoring (3 weeks) 
  • Commercial Cafeteria (2 weeks) 
  • Leadership and Clinical Management (2 weeks) 
Community Rotations (Affiliations, 3 weeks)
  • Pediatric (1 week)
  • Sport Nutrition (1 week)
  • WIC (1 week) 
Other:
  • Research week (1 week)
  • Orientation (first week in the program) (3 weeks) 
  • Vacation (Christmas break) (1 week) 
  • Professional Dietetic Experience/Staff Relief (3 weeks) 
* In addition to the assignments and daily work from the rotations, there are several projects that must be completed.

Projects and other learning activities:

  • Research Study
  • In-depth Clinical Case Study
  • Clinical Seminars
  • International Food Seminar
  • Sustainable Food Service Project
  • Articles for magazines, or social media
  • Cooking Demonstration and Healthy Teaching Cooking
  • Podcast Recording
  • National Nutrition Month
  • Public Policy Project
  • Retail Dietitian (visit)