The post-baccalaureate Dietetic Internship Program (“IP”) is a supervised practice experience designed to allow qualified individuals to become registry-eligible with the Commission on Dietetic Registration. It is a 33 week generalist practice experience which is offered as a six credit hour certificate course. Interns who have successfully completed an approved Didactic Program in Dietetics, as evidenced by an original signed Verification Statement, are accepted to the IP through a national computer matching system. The IP is sponsored by the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, College of Allied Health, and Department of Nutritional Sciences. The course is offered in the Spring and Fall of each year. When the IP is successfully completed, the graduate receives a Verification Statement, which provides eligibility for application to take the National Registration Exam. Upon passage of the National Registration Examination, the graduate will be credentialed as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) and be prepared to function as an entry-level dietitian.
The IP is not a new program. It began as an Approved Pre-Professional Practice Program (AP4) offered through the Department of Nutritional Sciences after submission of a self-study in November 1988 with subsequent approval by the American Dietetic Association in 1989. The AP4 experience was linked to the graduate program in that interns were eligible for the experience only after they had completed course work for the Masters of Science degree in Nutritional Sciences. In 1993 the American Dietetic Association implemented a policy change that resulted in AP4 Programs being required to change to IPs. This new policy meant the AP4 Program was required to apply for developmental accreditation as an IP. In 1994, the Department put forth an application to the American Dietetic Association for developmental accreditation and at the same time put forth changes in the IP that would provide an increased emphasis in community and public health nutrition. In December of 2009, the Department put forth a request to change the concentration of OUHS IP to one of Nutrition Focused Outcomes. In 2011, the program requested to add a second concentration of community nutrition, which was approved by the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education (now Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics).
