Meredith College Dietetic Internship Programs Cathie Ostrowski, MS, RD, LDN, FAND Sunday, October 4, 2015
Process of Increasing our DI 1. Brainstorming Meetings (4 months) Simulation Preceptor Pathway Distance 2.Developed our Site Preceptor Pathway, including staff, budget, contract, timeline (2 months) 2.Discussed with our Leadership (6+ months) 4. Contacted a local hospital we knew well (first meeting to contract signing took 7 months)
Details of our new program 5.Contracting with the hospital—(3 months) Meredith would hire RDs and admin Three groups of interns rotation through in FSM and Clinical Students move to Raleigh for 16 weeks, then return home for intern-identified rotations 6.College hired 1.7 FTEs—(2-3 months ) 1 FTE-RD 0.4 FTE-RD 0.3 admin 7.Budget--we needed 10 interns to break even
Details of our new program 8. Staff Training--1 month (2 would have been optimal!) 9. Major Program Change submitted to ACEND and approved (1 month) 10.Applications—word of mouth only, 30 applications (1 month) Idea conception to intern’s first day was 19 months
What has made this program successful Support of management/leadership staff at the hospital & college Support of lead RD Teaching hospital welcoming to interns Upper level management (VP, CEO) trusting in interns’ projects Students willing to try something new! Communication!
Benefits to the Hospital Updated diet manual in 2015 using latest guidelines, streamlining with patient menus and education materials Silver Spoons program growth due in large part to interns Presentation to Magnet Appraisers QA/PI project on tray line accuracy
Benefits to the Hospital Revenue project on Bistro Coffee Shop Metro Deli proposal & approval Inventory project in FNS Development of finger foods diet in FNS & education material
Benefits to the Hospital Coverage for RDs when they are off for weekends, vacation, unexpected absences, etc. Closer to best practices for visiting patients New ideas for improvement Retail development—dashboard view Research latest nutrition guidelines to stay current (i.e. case studies and journal club)
Benefits to the Interns Group learning fosters and accelerates the learning process; support, interns understand better when a peer explains something Environment of 4-5 interns mimics that of most future positions - interns learn to respect and understand differences in people, personalities, etc. Renown facility to complete rotations in. Stable schedule/no preceptor cancelations!
Benefits to the Interns Personalized attention with dedicated preceptor/continuity of having one, dedicated preceptor Balance of having a dedicated preceptor time that has time for one-on-one, sees your growth Working with staff who are excited to have them Variety and ability to self-select other rotations
Win-Win Pilot Site Preceptor Pathway Program was successful. The hospital wins. Large pool of interns to assist with day to day duties and special projects More interns are being placed in internships Each program hires 1.4 RD FTE’s plus.3 in administrative assistance) to support the interns
INNOVATIONS TO BUILD CAPACITY IN DIETETIC INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS QUESTIONS?