Program Goals and Outcomes

The Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education requires that Dietetic Internship Programs have established goals that reflect the program’s mission and the environment in which the program exists.

The goals of the Bowling Green State University Dietetic Internship Program are:

To prepare graduates to be competent entry-level dietitians.

To continue to utilize the many area resources available to provide practice experiences in clinical nutrition, foodservice management, administration, and community nutrition. New sites will be added as needed to enable students to pursue individual interests supportive of their professional goals.

To provide a positive learning environment for the intern through the use of direct supervision, on-going intern program evaluation, and improvement.

To provide the opportunity for interns to develop scholarship and critical thinking skills.

To provide the opportunity for interns to participate in approved professional activities through the use of emerging technology, attendance at conferences or presentation of research at professional meetings.

The following program outcome measures have been established to determine whether the Dietetic Internship Program is meeting its program goals. Data is collected annually and feedback, from program participants is used to continually improve the program. We are currently meeting or exceeding all of the outcomes measures related to the individual program goals.

Program Goal 1:

• Achievement of an 80% pass rate on the RD exam over a 5-year period
• Obtainment of employment in the dietetics field by 75% of graduates within 6 months of program completion
• The mean rating of employee preparation that employers will give program graduates in their employee will meet or exceed the average rating
• Interns will receive meet or exceed the rating “meets expectations” on 90% of their “Evaluation of Intern Performance”

Program Goal 2:

• Eighty percent of interns will provide “meets expectations” or “exceeds expectations” response to statement “The internship provided experiences supportive of your individual goals by adding new rotation sites as needed”
• Comparison of Master Schedule listing internship sites to student interest survey by external reviewer

Program Goal 3:

• Interns will respond positively to question “How helpful was your preceptor/supervisor in assisting you during this rotation?” 80% of the time
• Eighty percent of interns will provide “meets expectations” or “exceeds expectations” to statement “provided a positive learning environment which included the use of direct, on-going supervision and evaluation”

Program Goal 4:

• Demonstrated ability to critically evaluate research – interns will be given satisfactory or better rating based on rubric evaluation of a research paper
• Demonstrated ability to apply evidence based medicine principles – interns will be given satisfactory or better rating based on rubric evaluation of a research paper
• Demonstrated ability to remain current with new knowledge and practice in dietetics – interns will be given satisfactory or better rating based on rubric evaluation of clinical case study
• Demonstrated ability to conduct literature searches and other means of gathering peer-reviewed research publications – interns will be given satisfactory or better rating based on rubric evaluation of research paper

Program Goal 5:

• Presentations at professional conferences and publications in professional journals
• Description of professional conferences/seminars attended
• Eighty percent of interns will provide “met expectations” to statement “provided opportunities to participate in professional meetings through attendance of conferences and presentation of research at professional meetings.”