Happy Tuesday! It’s been an interesting week here in Beaumont. Spring break is fast approaching (thank goodness!), but the downside is I’ve had lots of things due in the last few days. Thus, the late post. Today though, my focus is not on my school, but on one in a neighboring state. I recently found the University of Arkansas for Medical Services Dietetic Internship and wanted to share with you what I’ve learned about them!

Overview

The UAMS dietetic internship is actually shared between the school and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System (CAVHS). Both of those are quite a mouthful, so I’ll stick to UAMS/CAVHS. That’s not too much, right? 😉

The internship is a nine-month long program that selects 14 applicants a year. About 55 people apply on average, which means on numbers alone you have about a 25% chance of being accepted. If you’re interested, this internship is part of the spring round of matching.

Interns are required to take 12 graduate credit hours that count towards an optional Master’s in Clinical Nutrition. The courses, which meet at the beginning of the week, are comprised of a variety of class settings, including clinical, lab, lecture, and seminar styles. Interns have the option to complete the master’s, but aren’t required to. If you’d like to complete a master’s though, and want to learn more, here’s a link to the master’s program page.

UAMS/CAVHS Rotations

Like all dietetic internships, the UAMS/CAVHS internship has rotations that give experience with clinical, community, and management practice. This internship specifically emphasizes medical nutrition therapy and management in a dietetics practice. Interns attend rotations Tuesdays through Fridays, but this can change depending on the site.

The school’s website doesn’t provide information on specific rotation sites beyond the fact that they’re in Central Arkansas. However, according to the 2019 Applicant Guide to Supervised Practice, here’s a few examples of where interns might work:

• Clinical populations (15 weeks total)
  • Pediatrics
  • Surgery
  • Renal/Dialysis
  • Eating Disorders
• Community (2 weeks total)
  • WIC
  • Schools
  • Food Banks
  • Cooperative Extension
• Management (19 weeks total)
  • Healthcare
  • Public Schools
  • Commercial/Retail
  • Community facilities
• Specialty practice (2 weeks total)
  • Rural health
  • Underserved
  • Diabetes
  • Neonatal

The school also offers 2 weeks of staff relief practice. For these rotations, UAMS/CAVHS offers the interns the choice of working in either a clinical, nutrition education, health department, or food service setting.

Why Choose the UAMS/CAVHS Dietetic Internship?

One thing I did not mention above is that this internship has a stipend! Between the university and the VA Healthcare System, interns receive on average a little over $8,000. This money doesn’t negate the cost of this already inexpensive internship, but it does make it much more manageable.

The UAMS/CAVHS Dietetic Internship’s mission is “to meet the needs of entry-level, Registered Dietitian Nutritionists in Arkansas and in VA Healthcare Systems serving the nation’s Veterans. ” Therefore, consider this internship right for you if you want to…

• Work with veterans
• Learn how to interact with other healthcare professionals in a clinical setting
• Be challenged and grow in your surroundings
• Complete a shorter internship
• Live in Arkansas

Resources

Interested in learning more about UAMS and their dietetic internship? Here’s some websites that I sourced for information or found useful!

• Main page for the dietetic internship
• If you’d like to request information from the internship, you can do that through this page.

Until next week!
Emmalee