Mission, Goals, & Outcomes

Mission, Goals, and Outcomes

We train future practitioners through a lens of health literacy and practice variety; connecting food and nutrition knowledge to real-world situations. Through reflection, hands-on-experiences and faculty-preceptor mentoring, interns learn to use their voices as leaders in diverse practice settings where food and nutrition advocacy matters.
 

Mission

The Vanderbilt Dietetic Internship's mission is to provide a pre-eminent supervised practice program model for training competent and compassionate entry level registered dietitian nutritionists delivering personalized nutrition therapy in the hospital, and innovative nutrition programming within community-based systems and healthcare networks.

 

Program Goals, Objectives, and Outcomes

Goal #1 - Graduates will be prepared as competent entry level registered dietitian nutritionists in the core and concentration competency area of disease management/health promotion.

Objectives for Goal #1:

  1. Program Completion Objective 
    2024-2025 Class: At least 80% of program interns complete program requirements within 23 months (150% of program length). ACEND requirement 
    2025-2026 Class: At least 80% of program interns complete program requirements within 16.2 months (150% of program length) ACEND requirement 
     
  2. The program’s one-year pass rate (graduates who pass the registration exam within one year of first attempt) on the CDR credentialing exam for dietitian nutritionists is at least 80%. ACEND requirement 
     

  3. Exam Participation Rate 
    2024-2025 Class: At least 80% of program graduates take the CDR credentialing examination for dietitian nutritionists within 12 months of MEd/DI completion. ACEND requirement 
    2025-2026 Class: At least 80% of program graduates take the CDR credentialing examination for dietitian nutritionists within 12 months of program completion. ACEND requirement

     

Goal #2 - Graduates will fulfill employment needs at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and nationally as competent entry-level registered dietitian nutritionists.

Objectives for Goal #2:

  1. Of graduates who seek employment, at least 80% are employed in nutrition and dietetics or related fields within 12 months of graduation. ACEND requirement 
     
  2. Program graduates will fulfill at least 25% of dietitian roles at Vanderbilt University Medical Center 
     

  3. At least 80% of surveyed employer respondents will be “satisfied” or above with the graduates’ preparation for entry level practice. ACEND requirement

     

Program Outcomes

Results of goals and outcomes are available upon request by contacting Kerri Baxter, Program Director, at kerri.n.baxter@vumc.org.