Work hours vary with requirements and activity of the unit to which the intern is assigned. The intern's hours will be similar to those of the preceptor to whom they are assigned. Due to the professional nature of the internship, extra time will be required to complete assignments and projects. Interns can expect to work a 40 hour week, plus additional time for projects, presentations and assignments to enhance the learning experience and meet the internship competencies.
General Summary
In the supervised practice setting, the Intern works under the guidance of preceptors in assigned rotations. All rotations require strong interpersonal skills, competence in pre-requisite background knowledge, good organizational and time management skills. The Intern must be able to meet deadlines and work within a defined timeframe, prioritize tasks/responsibilities, and concentrate for extended periods of time on detailed materials.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities
Responsibilities
- Clinical nutrition setting: contributes to the design and implementation of a plan of patient nutrition care, based on identification and assessment of a patient’s nutritional needs, correlated with other health plans.
- Ambulatory care settings: contributes to the planning and delivery of the nutrition component of the care plan as well as nutrition education in the appropriate and assigned settings.
- Food service rotation: involved in management and delivery of quality food items to patients and guests.
- Research: Coordinates extensive literature review with guidance and gains exposure to the dietitian’s role in a clinical research setting.
Qualifications
- Acceptance to the Brigham and Women’s Dietetic Internship after undergoing the formal application process (including the matching procedure) with evidence of completion of the ACEND required coursework.
- Minimum of a Master’s Degree.
- Completion of an accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD) as confirmed by submission of a final Verification Statement.
Skills and Abilities Required
- Knowledge of metabolism in relation to clinical nutrition.
- Knowledge of food chemistry and macro/micro-nutrition composition.
- Knowledge of food production and service systems in relation to safe, nutritious food products.
- Basic personnel skills for interaction with a diverse group of people in the work setting (including physicians, nurses, other allied health professionals, managers, and supportive personnel).
- High level of analytical abilities to interpret laboratory data, to identify and plan individual nutrition programs, and to discriminate new product claims and their physiologic effect.
- High level of interpersonal skills necessary to provide counseling to patients and their families on nutrition related issues.
- Ability to work in changing environment.
Working Conditions
- Works as part of a team, assigned to various patient populations in a variety of patient care, research, and food service settings.
- Assigned during clinical rotations to work under the supervision of a registered dietitian for one weekend.
- Fast-paced work environment dealing with a wide variety of hospital staff, patients and families, providing consultation services, public speaking, or presentations to professional audiences.
- Works in varied environments including normal office environment, on hospital floors, outpatient settings, and in the food service areas.
- Work requires standing/walking for a minimum of 4 hours most days.
- Work may require travel to and from contracted consultation programs in the community (accessible by public transportation).
- Usual work hours vary depending on the schedule of the preceptor, Monday through Friday. Occasional early morning, evening and weekend work may be required.
Approvals
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be constructed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified.
