Food & Nutrition: CPD Supervised Practice Experience

To be eligible for the registration exam for dietitians, students must first complete 1200 hours of supervised practice (SP).

In the coordinated program, supervised practice begins with the experience in NUTR002 Orientation to Dietetics. That experience must be completed within five years prior to applying to the program.

First Year
Supervised practice experiences in the first year of CPD are generally limited to 3 to 4 hours/week in clinical nutrition settings. Some facilities include outpatient clinics or health maintenance organizations. All students are also placed in a hospital setting. When possible, student requests for facility placement are honored. In addition, simulated laboratory experiences are held on campus

Second Year
In the second year of CPD, students attend academic classes on campus two days a week and participate in experiences eight hours, three days/week (minimum 24 hours). This allows for in-depth experience in clinical nutrition in a hospital; in foodservice management in a hospital, nursing home, college dining, school nutrition; in community nutrition education in a health center or community program; and, in school nutrition in public elementary and secondary schools. Students submit their choices for facilities for each area of dietetics and these provide the basis for student placement whenever possible. When multiple course sections are offered, students are assigned to the appropriate course section based on the facility. Students are generally not placed in facilities where they have been or are currently employed. The program attempts to rotate experiences as necessary to broaden the individual student's background or emphasize a student strength.

Staff relief experiences require sequential days for the SP experience and are scheduled to meet individual course requirements. The Coordinated Program in Dietetics Facility Master Schedule, available in Helpful Resources below, provides a schedule of important meetings and dates you can expect to be at your facilities.

Pediatric Conference
The clinical nutrition service of Children's Hospital Boston presents a two-day Introduction to Pediatric Nutrition course on two Mondays during the Fall semester. Students are responsible for the registration fee ($70.00) and transportation and parking costs (approx. $20.00). Costs are approximate and are subject to change. Attendance is mandatory; this seminar is part of your supervised practice hours. An evaluation of the seminar content is required.

Physical Exam

All students are required to have an annual physical exam.  Since most health insurance policies will only reimburse for one annual exam, any date is acceptable as long as you update annually while in the Coordinated Program. You may provide a letter from your physician documenting an annual physical exam and indicating your health status is acceptable for completing supervised practice in both hospital and foodservice settings.

In addition to the physical exam, the following are also required:

  • Immunizations for MMR (2 doses) AND titer
  • Immunization for Varicella OR titer
  • Immunization for Hepatitis B AND titer
  • Immunization for Tetanus/Diphtheria within 10 years or Tdap Booster
  • 2-Step Tuberculin Skin Test with annual update, OR QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube test (QFT-GIT)
  • OR T-SPOT®.TB test (T-Spot) OR chest X-ray
  • Annual flu shot

Tuberculin Skin Tests and the flu shot are available through FSU Health Center for a nominal charge.

Criminal Record Check (CORI)
Many facilities affiliated with the CPD require Criminal Record Information (CORI) checks for employees and students who affiliate with them. Therefore, all students entering the Coordinated Program in Dietetics are required to have the CORI conducted by the Framingham State University Human Resource Office. Some sites, for example school nutrition programs, conduct their own CORI, so it is possible that a student would have the CORI conducted multiple times.

Fingerprinting
Some students complete their foodservice supervised practice in a public school, however, ALL students are placed in a public school setting for the School Nutrition practicum.  Massachusetts requires fingerprinting for all students affiliating at these schools.   Fingerprinting is scheduled through http://identogo.com/FP/Massachusetts.aspx. 

Students will need the specific School District Provider ID in order to schedule their appointment for fingerprinting.  The cost for fingerprinting is $35.00, at student expense.  Students placed at two different public schools may incur duplicate costs for fingerprinting.

Part-time completion of the supervised practice
On a space-available basis, the suggested course sequence may be altered. You should speak to the CPD Director concerning alternate scheduling or part-time options.

More details can be found in the Handbook of the Coordinated Program in Dietetics available in Helpful Resources below.