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1 OM-19 Dietetic Intern Placement Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention WIC Nutrition Program

Effective: October 1, 2012

Policy No.OM-19 Revised: August 1, 2016 Dietetic Intern Placements Authority Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics, Education Eligibility Requirements and Accreditation Standards for Dietetic Internship Programs (section 2.1.4) Policy 1. The Maine CDC WIC State Agency will facilitate dietetic intern placement requests for WIC rotations when possible. 1.1 Priority for internship placement shall be given to the University of Maine Dietetic Internship program 1.2 All Local WIC Agencies are required to host an intern, when requested, at least once per fiscal year. 1.3 The Local Agency will have a signed Supervised Practice Agreement with any educational institution requesting placement of dietetic intern(s). 1.4 The intern must be approved in conjunction with the State Agency Nutrition Coordinator before any commitments are to be made. If the local agency does not meet the caseload threshold that requires a Registered Dietitian (RD) on staff, the State Agency Nutrition Coordinator and/or other State Agency staff RD shall serve as a preceptor for the intern’s Community Nutrition experience.

Procedures 1. All requests for dietetic internship placement are to be referred to the State Agency Nutrition Coordinator. 1.1. The State Agency Nutrition Coordinator shall send the request for placement to the appropriate Local Agency Director for consideration. 1.2. Requests for placement will be handled on an individual basis. 1.3. All requests will be considered according to scheduling of other interns during the previous year as well as physical residence location of the intern. 1.4. If the request for placement is for a full internship rotation (typically four or five weeks), the intern will be scheduled for one week with State Agency staff. 2. The State Agency Nutrition Coordinator shall ensure that a facility agreement is in place prior to the start of the intern’s placement.

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2 OM-19 Dietetic Intern Placement 2.1. Facility agreements shall be signed by the intern, the dietetic internship director, and the Maine DHHS Commissioner. 2.2. A multi-year agreement shall be obtained for placement of University of Maine interns to reduce administrative burden. 2.3. Whenever possible, the Maine CDC facility agreement shall be used for all other internship programs. 3. The State Agency will obtain the required Dietetic Internship Competencies and evaluation forms for each intern placed. 3.1. All competencies and evaluation forms shall be sent to the responsible Local Agency staff who will be working with the intern. 4. Intern requests will be considered for partial (one week) or entire (five weeks) rotations to satisfy the requirements for any of the following dietetic internship rotations: 4.1. Community Nutrition 4.2. Pediatric Nutrition 4.3. Maternal Nutrition 5. Depending on the length of the internship, the Local Agency will provide training as time permits, to include but not be limited to the following: 5.1. Certification and Eligibility 5.2. Nutrition Services 5.2.1. Nutrition Counseling 5.2.2. Breastfeeding Promotion and Support 5.2.3. Food Package Design and Food Prescription Assignment, including tailoring 5.2.4. Value Enhanced Nutrition Assessment (VENA) 5.2.5. Referrals 5.3. Food Benefit Delivery 6. Interns will be given opportunity to observe and conduct counseling appointments during Local Agency rotations. 6.1. Authorized representatives shall be asked to sign informed consent prior to appointments being observed or conducted by an intern (Appendix OM-19-A Consent Form for Interns) 6.2. Signed consent forms shall be scanned into the participant record for permanent retention. 6.3. All documentation done in the participant record shall be overseen by the responsible staff member working with the intern. 7. When interns are placed at the State Agency for part of the internship rotation, staff will provide training, as time and opportunities permit, including but not limited to the following:

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3 OM-19 Dietetic Intern Placement 7.1. State Agency oversight of program operations 7.2. Coordination with other Maine CDC programs 7.3. Evaluation of local agency operations (MER) 7.4. MIS maintenance and modifications 7.5. Policy development 7.6. Program planning 7.7. Training opportunities (including intern presentation of special research project as continuing education item for local agency staff) 8. Local Agency staff members who have worked with an intern will be requested to provide input for the intern’s evaluation. 8.1. The State Agency will provide evaluation forms from the intern’s dietetic internship to the Local Agency. 8.2. The State Agency will coordinate exit interviews at the conclusion of the intern’s rotation.