Learning Environment

The UC Davis Medical Center Dietetic Internship, while providing a broad base of knowledge through a variety of settings, offers an ideal setting for the Nutrition Therapy concentration.  As a medical center-based program in a tertiary health care facility serving Northern and Central California, we have substantial resources in terms of a diverse patient population, skilled clinical nutrition staff, and relationships with other health professionals within our teaching hospital environment. We care for patients with complex medical and nutritional diagnoses. In addition, we benefit from affiliations within the Sacramento Valley area that provide community nutrition experiences, including Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Meals on Wheels, and the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services.

UC Davis Health comprises UC Davis Medical Center, UC Davis Children's Hospital, UC Davis School of Medicine, UC Davis Cancer Center, The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis and UC Davis Medical Group. UC Davis Health plays a pivotal role in the delivery of health care to inland Northern California. UC Davis Medical Center is a nationally recognized 646-bed tertiary academic medical center accredited by The Joint Commission. UC Davis Medical Center is ranked as the Sacramento Metropolitan Area’s top hospital by U.S. News and World Report, is recognized as a Top Urban Hospital for delivery of high-quality care by the Leapfrog Group, and  earned the “Most Wired” designation by Hospitals and Health Networks as one the nation’s top leaders in information technology. UC Davis Medical Group includes Primary Care Networks in 10 offices across the region. UC Davis Health has more than 34,000 inpatient admissions and nearly 1 million outpatient visits annually.

The UC Davis Medical Center provides comprehensive, specialty health care services to 33 counties covering a 65,000-square-mile area north to the Oregon border and east to Nevada. The UC Davis Centers of Excellence include:

• The UC Davis Comprehensive Care Center, one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive centers nationwide
• State-of-the-art emergency departments that include the region’s only Level 1 adult and pediatric trauma centers
• The internationally recognized UC Davis MIND Institute, devoted to finding treatments and cures for neurodevelopmental disorders
• UC Davis Children’s Hospital, a nationally ranked pediatric hospital with 33 pediatric subspecialties
• A pioneering telehealth program, which gives remote, underserved communities access to academic specialty and subspecialty care.

Distance Education and Technology Requirements

The majority of our program is onsite/in-person, with a small portion (less than 50%) considered “distance education” as defined by ACEND guidelines provided on July 17, 2023.  

Our program utilizes a Learning Management System to provide training modules during orientation.   Interns are expected to be onsite and are provided with department issued computer/laptop to complete these and any similar training modules that may be expected by some of our rotations (e.g., WIC Works during the WIC Community Nutrition rotation, etc.).  As approved by the DI Director and/or DI Coordinator (and the primary preceptor of the rotation as applicable), such modules may be completed remotely by the intern with the expectation that material is reviewed with the primary preceptor and/or the module assesses for knowledge and completion of the training is recorded per organizational and/or program expectations.  

Some of our rotations may include a telehealth visit experience.  For the majority of these situations, the intern and the preceptor are in the same location.  For a rotation that requires the intern, preceptor, and client to access remotely, e.g., Health Management Education’s evening/weekend online group class, then the intern is expected to stay online with the preceptor after the class is over/client leaves, and debrief with the preceptor.

In the event an intern accesses/completes training modules and/or portions of a supervised practice experiential learning activity remotely (and does not utilize the onsite Wi-Fi/internet provided in the UC Davis Health or UC Davis Campus facilities, and is not at a library that provides complementary access), they would need to ensure that they have a secure and adequate internet connection as outlined in the UC Davis Health Information Technology | Security | Key Security Policies (ucdavis.edu).

As outlined on our UC Davis Medical Center Dietetic Internship Financial Information webpage under Computer/Internet Access, it is expected that dietetic interns will have access to a computer and internet at home while participating in the program.  Estimated monthly costs, including utilities, are also provided on this webpage: https://health.ucdavis.edu/dieteticinternship/financial.html.

If prospective students/interns have additional questions about our program or about these expectations, they may contact us to inquire.