PLACEMENT OF INTERNS

POLICY:  Interns will be placed in practice sites in geographically convenient locations whenever possible

1. Interns will be placed in practice sites that have already been approved whenever possible.

2. Every effort will be made to place our interns in appropriate facilities as close as possible to the geographic location requested by an applicant.
   
3. Once the applications have been reviewed and the candidates who will be considered for ranking are chosen, the following process is initiated by the Internship Director:
   
   1. If an applicant is geographically located in an area where there is no approved practice site, the Internship Director will contact the appropriate Clinical Area Support Manager to determine availability of appropriate practice sites in the area.
      
   2. If it is determined that there are appropriate practice sites in the applicant’s geographic area, the Internship Director will contact the Food Service Manager and/or Clinical Nutrition Manager at the site to request the use of the site and staff for a practice site. 
      
   3. If there is no appropriate site in a requested geographic area, the Internship Director will notify the applicant of this fact and inform him/her of closest site available. 
      
   4. If the intern accepts the alternate location s/he will be left on the list of applicants to be ranked
      
   5. If the intern declines the alternate site, s/he will be removed from the ranking list so that the intern can have an opportunity to  be matched to another  internship.

4. If the intern is matched to the program, the practice site will be notified.  A link to the password protected preceptor website will be sent to the practice site along with a contract to be signed and a request for information about the facility and preceptors’ resumes.  The Internship Director will conduct a phone conference with one or more of the preceptors at the site, as necessary.  A password protected website is available to all preceptors.  Information to access the site will be sent to the primary preceptor by the internship staff.  The preceptor website will contain at least the following information:

1. Philosophy and Goals of the program
2. Explanation of distance education
3. Information regarding learning styles and development of learners
4. Guidelines for giving feedback and evaluations
5. Rotation description
6. Pertinent evaluation forms
7. A copy of the Internship Policy Book

5. Whenever possible, internship faculty will visit the site while the intern is at the in the rotation  to review the competencies and evaluation forms and to answer any questions or concerns of the staff. 

6. Additional visits will be made by internship faculty if problems arise.  Otherwise regular email or phone contact will be made with the site preceptor, as needed. 

7. At the end of the rotation, the intern will be asked to evaluate the site for continued use by future interns.

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

1. Applicants to the Sodexo Distance Education Dietetic Internship who wish to complete an international experience will indicate this on the Internship Application Cover Sheet, what country or countries s/he is interested in.
   
2. If the intern is matched to the program, the Internship Director will contact the internship liaison, the Group SVP for Marketing Research and Development for Sodexo Alliance, who will provide the appropriate contact for the country of interest. 
   
3. The Internship Director will contact this person to determine an appropriate placement for the food service management rotation in the area requested by the applicant.  If it is determined that there are appropriate practice sites in the requested country, the Internship Director will contact the Food Service Manager at the site to request the use of the site and staff for a practice site. 
   
4. If there is no appropriate site in a requested country, the Internship Director will notify the applicant of this fact and discuss any other options.  
   
5. The practice site will be given access to the Preceptor Website.  The Internship Director will conduct a phone conference with one or more of the preceptors at the site.  The Preceptor Website will contain at least the following information:

1. Philosophy and Goals of the program
2. Explanation of distance education
3. Rotation description
4. Description of learning activities and assignments
5. Suggested Timeline for activities
6. Pertinent evaluation forms
7. A copy of the Internship Policy Book
   
6. During the rotation, the Internship Director will contact the preceptor through e-mail and/or phone to answer any questions and assure that program competencies are being met.
   

8. Travel and housing arrangements are the responsibility of the intern.