What to Expect with the KBDI

As the KBDI is a distance education program, interns will be required to locate their own supervised practice sites and preceptors.

The program staff can offer all accepted interns an extensive list of potential preceptors and practice locations to help interns secure rotations.

Internship staff will aid students in finding practice locations and preceptors to their best of their ability. However, interns are ultimately responsible for this aspect of the program. 

The KBDI provides a thorough curriculum that satisfies all ACEND competencies as well as the KBDI business competencies.  All KBDI interns must successfully complete all competencies within the internship period.  If any interns are not able to complete the competencies during their rotations they will have to make up this work at different rotations.  This could extend the time period for the intern.  The rotations may or may not be in the geographic location of the intern, and the intern may need to travel and/or relocate to successfully complete the competencies and fulfill the KBDI and ACEND requirements.

Please note: all rotations (> two days) will require a signed affiliation agreement with the KBDI.  Please see the below tab “Affiliation Agreements” for further information.

As it is the responsibility of the distance intern to identify appropriate practice sites and/or preceptors that will enable the intern to fulfill the KBDI curriculum, satisfy the ACEND competencies and meet our program goals and objectives.  Interns are responsible for completing the KBDI “Preceptor/Site Identification” Form and emailing to KBDI Faculty and Staff by the following time points:

• Clinical – Form will be submitted with Application to Program.
• Food Service Management – Form will be submitted by or before 30 days before Orientation.
• Community – Form will be submitted by or before 30 days before Orientation.
• Business – Form will be submitted by or before 15 days after Orientation.
• Enrichment – Form will be submitted by or before February 28^th of the year marking internship completion.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to locate supervised practice sites and preceptors in the geographic location in which they desire to do supervised practice.

A preceptor is willing to mentor you through the rotations. The preceptor works with you to set up a schedule. He or she will monitor your progress and evaluate your performance using the curriculum and forms from the KBDI internship. A description of the preceptors is given below.

1. Clinical MNT preceptor – must be a Registered Dietitian. KBDI prefers this rotation to take place in an acute care, long-term acute care or skilled nursing facility.
2. Foodservice management – Either a Registered Dietitian or a Food Service Professional. This rotation may take place in a hospital, long-term care, school lunch, and assisted living.
3. Community – a Registered Dietitian working in Retail (Supermarkets), Private Practice, WIC, the Food Bank, School Lunch Program, Colleges/Universities, and more.
4. Business – a Registered Dietitian working in Private Practice, Consulting, Corporate Wellness, Industry, Government, and more or another type of professional (may be marking, digital media, public relations, food service, or other) who has at least 3 years of professional and/or management experience and demonstrates continued professional education.

If you are unsure if a preceptor will qualify for your rotation, please contact KBDI for guidance.

Preceptor responsibilities include:

• Work with the intern to schedule learning experiences
• Orient the intern to the facility and rotation
• Mentor the intern and provide frequent supervised learning experiences (may delegate this task)
• Review the curriculum assignments as the intern completes them and evaluate the intern performance using the online forms (may delegate this task)
• Be familiar with and abide by KBDI dietetic internship policies and procedures
• Attend the KBDI preceptor training webinar and complete the post-quiz
• Act as the point of contact for the KBDI faculty and staff

All applicants must submit the KBDI Preceptor Form with the names, addresses, phone numbers, emails and signatures of preceptors (at least 1 from each category). This information is to be submitted in the supplemental application. If the applicant intends to utilize other preceptors and sites during the internship as part of the rotation, these may be submitted after matching.

After matching, the KBDI will execute affiliation agreements with all preceptors and sites. It is the responsibility of the applicant to supply complete names and contact information for all facilities and preceptors where the intern will rotate and complete assignments.

For example, Sarah Smith, who is a private practice dietitian has agreed to supervise your community rotation (you submitted a preceptor form for Sarah with your supplemental application packet). However, you intend to spend two weeks in at a ShopRite where Barbara Blue is the dietitian. After you match, you must submit Barbara Blue’s name and contact information to the KBDI. KBDI will execute an affiliation agreement on your behalf so you can spend two weeks of your community rotation at the Retail Site. This must be done prior to starting the rotation.

Note, if you plan to spend < 2 days at a site but will not complete any assignments there, an affiliation agreement is not required. You will still be under the supervision of the current rotation preceptor as this is part of the current rotation.

As a general guideline, if you spend more than 2 days at a site you will need a separate preceptor form and affiliation agreement.

KBDI Faculty may assign Interns additional rotation sites and/or preceptors that will enable the intern to fulfill any competencies that are not met at the original site.  All KBDI interns must successfully complete all competencies within the internship period.  If any interns are not able to complete the competencies during their rotations they will have to make up this work at different rotations.  This could extend the time period for the intern.  The rotations may or may not be in the geographic location of the intern, and the intern may need to travel and/or relocate to successfully complete the competencies and fulfill the KBDI and ACEND requirements.  Affiliation agreements will need to be in place for all sites that the KBDI interns are rotating at for more than two days.

At no time will interns act an employee of any facility for which interns are doing rotations.  Interns will not advise patients or clients without the supervision of a registered dietitian.  Interns will not accept any payment for work done during supervised practice hours.

An acceptable Clinical Site will enable the KBDI intern to successfully complete the KBDI clinical curriculum, satisfy the ACEND competencies and meet our program goals and objectives.  Acceptable sites for clinical rotation(s) include acute care hospitals, long term care facilities, long term acute care (LTAC) facilities, and rehabilitation care center. The facility should be a Joint Commission Accredited Hospital and/or Long-Term Care or similar setting for a total of 9 weeks (360 hours total).  

If using a Long-Term Care facility for part of your clinical experience, you must have an acute, inpatient hospital experience to satisfy the requirements in the KBDI curriculum. Acute Care should total 4 weeks or 160 hours. Interns also have the option of completing 2 weeks of the 9 weeks at an outpatient clinic (not private practice), diabetes speciality clinic, eating disorder clinic, dialysis center or other speciality clinic. 

The clinical rotations will provide interns with diverse experiences in screening and the nutrition care process for various ages and disease conditions (acute and chronic).  The clinical rotation will show interns how to integrate nutrition services with other services at the health care facility, integrate nutrition research into clinical practice and facilitate nutrition communication, counseling and education strategies to various populations.  It will provide some type of quality assurance education.  The clinical rotation will guide the intern on current department and/or facility challenge/s that the KBDI intern can work on for their final clinical business plan (may need to show intern confidential information and/or simulated information).  

The facility must have a minimum of one full time Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with at least 1 year of professional experience and demonstrated commitment to continued education to serve as the primary preceptor. 

Food Service Management Rotations will enable the KBDI intern to successfully complete the KBDI food service management curriculum, satisfy the ACEND competencies and meet our program goals and objectives.  The Food Service Management rotation is 6 weeks (240 hours). 

Acceptable sites include health care facilities, such as hospitals, long-term care, assisted living or rehabilitation centers, and school food service.  A minimum of 2 weeks should be completed in a facility that offers patient services. Interns may also complete their FSM rotation in non-traditional settings such as a cafe/bakery, meal delivery company, food bank or food resource center. If choosing a non-traditional option, interns are still responsible for working with the preceptor to ensure that all competencies can be met. 

The management rotation will show the interns all aspects of food production, distribution and communication. This rotation will give interns experiences in menu modifications to accommodate special dietary needs and provide background in ingredient functionality and usage.  Interns will learn how the department/preceptor manages resources, including budget, inventory, facility, and equipment, and assesses sanitation and safety, sustainability of resources, and waste generation. This rotation will expose interns to personnel management, and how to integrate the food service department with other departments. Interns will be provided in-service education assignment/s. This rotation will guide interns on current department and/or facility challenge/s that interns can work on for their final management business plan. This rotation may be completed in one or more facilities.  

The preceptors must either be a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with at least 1 year of professional experience and demonstrating continued education or a food service professional who has at least 3 years of professional and/or management experience and demonstrates continued professional education. 

Community Rotations will enable the KBDI intern to successfully complete the KBDI community curriculum, satisfy the ACEND competencies and meet our program goals and objectives.  

Acceptable sites include WIC or Head Start experiences, outpatient counseling (if not covered in the MNT rotation), public health, dialysis, food banks/resource centers, community garden/education programs, retail settings and other community programs.  This rotation is 3 weeks (120 hours).  

The rotation must review with interns the background on government agencies and functions, research types and applications, and best practices for counseling within community populations. Interns should review screening criteria at different community nutrition programs to identify at risk clients, as well as how to refer clients to other health services. The rotation should show interns how to apply current research into community nutrition practice and assign projects for interns to develop and/or update nutrition education classes for diverse audiences. The rotation will also review the management of staff/volunteers in the community nutrition program and demonstrate skills in written and oral communication with this group. Must guide the intern on current community and/or facility challenge/s that the KBDI intern can work on for their final community business plan (may need to show intern confidential information and/or simulated information.  

The facility must have a minimum of one full time Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with at least 1 year of professional experience and demonstrated commitment to continued education to serve as the primary preceptor. 

Business Rotations will enable the KBDI intern to successfully complete the KBDI business curriculum, satisfy the ACEND competencies and meet our program goals and objectives.  The business rotations may be in industry, consulting, retail,  government, management, corporate wellness, private practice and additional entrepreneurial settings.  

The business rotation total time is 7 weeks (280 hours).  Interns should have 2 unique business rotation experiences during this time (e.g. 4 weeks in corporate wellness and 3 weeks in industry).  

The business rotation must teach the intern business considerations (legal, accounting, managing personnel and resources, etc.) and give the intern opportunities to practice in these areas.  The business rotation should make all effort to expose the interns to the psychology in communication, sales and customer service, marketing, website development, social media, and private practice reimbursement and billing. Must guide the intern on current business challenge/s that the KBDI intern can work on for their final site business plan (may need to show intern confidential information and/or simulated information).  

The preceptors must either be a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with at least 1 year of professional experience and demonstrating continued education or another type of professional (may be marking, digital media, public relations, food service, or other) who has at least 3 years of professional and/or management experience and demonstrates continued professional education. 

With this rotation, interns get to pick a concentration area in any field of nutrition and dietetics and business that they wish to deepen their knowledge and understanding.  Interns must submit a proposal and establish which ACEND and/or KBDI learning competencies will be addressed during this rotation.  Interns will develop their own goals and objectives for the enrichment rotation.  Documentation must be submitted, in writing, to KBDI faculty and staff by February 28th of each year.  This rotation is 3 weeks, 40 hours a week for a total of 120 hours.  

The preceptors must either be a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with at least 1 year of professional experience and demonstrating continued education or another type of professional (may be marking, digital media, public relations, food service, or other) who has at least 3 years of professional and/or management experience and demonstrates continued professional education.  

The Enrichment Rotation must be completed last. The Enrichment Rotation is your culmination experience.

Questions about the acceptability of enrichment sites should be sent to the internship director and assistant director for review.

Affiliation agreements are obtained for all sites that the KBDI interns rotate at for more than two days.  The facility’s agreement or KBDI’s agreement may be used, based on the preference of the facility.  All agreements are reviewed by the personnel of both parties who have the authority to sign the agreements and signed by those approved individuals.  Affiliation agreements are kept on file with KBDI.  Affiliation agreements are not required by interns rotating at B.Komplete or sites in which interns are at for two days or fewer.

It is the responsibility of the intern to supply complete names (facility and preceptor name) and contact information (email, telephone, address, and website) for all facilities and preceptors where the intern will rotate and complete assignments.  This contact information must be provided using the KBDI site information form to KBDI faculty and staff 90 days before the intern plans to rotate at the site.    

KBDI will email our affiliation agreement, the site qualification sheet and rotation competency overview to the preceptor at the facility.  The affiliation agreement must be signed by both authorized parties prior to our interns rotating at the site. 

When a new supervised practice site is needed, the Assistant Director and/or Director for KBDI will contact the on-site manager to determine if the required competencies can be achieved.   Within 2 weeks of starting the rotation, the primary preceptor and intern will be contacted by KBDI to evaluate the adequacy and appropriateness of the facility to meet our curriculum requirements, competencies and learning objectives. Interns have the opportunity to give feedback regarding supervised practice sites on each Rotation Activity and Evaluation Form.  Interns complete an end of program survey that each intern completes just prior to graduation.

The Komplete Business Dietetic Internship is a non-academic program, however will still provide the following intern support services listed below. Services that may be offered at rotations will vary according to facility offerings. Interns are responsible for expenses caused by any illness or injury (self-inflicted or not) that occur during working hours at an affiliated facility. Interns must have required insurances.

• KBDI Faculty will provide tutoring and mentoring to enable interns to successfully complete the curriculum, ACEND competencies, and rotations.  Tutoring and mentoring may include instruction in writing business plans, rotation specific acumen, study skills, digital acumen, time management, and other subjects.
• KBDI Faculty will provide advice in rotation selection.
• KBDI Faculty will provide education designed to improve the financial and economic literacy of interns.
• KBDI Faculty will provide individual assessments and coaching.
• Technical support for the internship will be provided by the B.Komplete Technical Support Team (Vivarta Solutions, Contact Arijit Rahut).
• B.Komplete Wellness Providers will be paired up with the KBDI Interns for a mentoring program.  The B.Komplete Team will counsel interns about how to get set up as an independent contractor and about their background in wellness.   B.Komplete Team members can advise the KBDI interns on certain steps in starting a business. 
• B.Komplete will provide our interns exposure to corporate wellness events.
• All KBDI interns will be encouraged to use SCORE Resources, attend events, and sign up for a Mentor. 
• All KBDI interns will be encouraged to sign up for Talk Space a confidential, online counseling app.
• KBDI Faculty will provide networking connections and community collaboration partners for our interns.

Interns enrolled in the KBDI must have adequate internet access and technological capabilities to meet online course access and participation criteria (for both live and recorded learning experiences). All interns are expected to have sufficient skills and knowledge in the use of computers and associated internet technology to begin KBDI. Computer technology relates to both the hardware and software used in performing common computing tasks. The below standards identify required technology skills. It is expected that incoming interns who do not meet the minimum competency level in any of the technology skill areas will do so within the first 6 weeks of the internship.  These skills may be developed in a variety of ways, for example through presentation development, online research, email communication, and financial exercises.

Technology Competence and Skills:

1. Word Processing Skills
2. Spreadsheets Skills
3. Database Skills
4. Electronic Presentation Skills
5. Web Navigation Skills
6. E-Mail Management Skills
7. Google Drive Operational Aptitude
8. Digital Camera/Video
9. File Management & Windows Explorer Skills
10. Downloading Software from the Web
11. Installing Computer Software onto a Computer System
12. Videoconferencing skills
13. Scanner Knowledge

Interns are required to secure an internet connection speed that supports real-time online conferencing. A notebook or tablet should not be used as the main device as it does not support the minimum operating system required. Students should not rely on a data account through a cellular service for internet access to complete virtual live class meetings, and internet access should provide a minimum bandwidth of 500 kbps upload and 300 kbps download capability to ensure optimal online learning experiences.

Minimum software required: Word processing, excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint and browser software is needed.

Access to a scanner is required for submission of some supervised practice preceptor evaluations and internship assignments.

A headset with microphone may be required for certain assignments, live classes and other web-based communications.

A personal laptop is not required for use at supervised practice sites but may be helpful if facility computers are not available to the intern. Preceptors are not required to provide interns with computer access during supervised practice hours.

Google programs (gmail, google drive, etc.) will be needed for completing online learning and assignment submission.

The Komplete Business Dietetic Internship (KBDI) participates in the Prior Assessed Learning (PAL) program recognized by the Accrediting Council in Education Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND).

Dietetic internships are striving to meet the growing need for Registered Dietitians; Prior Assessed Learning is an equitable way to allow interns to demonstrate their learning through their life/work experiences. Interns often seek out programs that are willing to work with them to recognize their past experiences, and award credit for their learning.  An example may be an intern who has been a dietary manager for 5 years. For supervised practice, credit may be given for work experiences as a manager of a long-term care foodservice operation.

Our Prior Assessed Learning program is designed to grant varying degrees of internship credit in specific rotations of the internship based on the qualified applicant’s learning, as demonstrated through paid work or volunteer experiences. Experiences considered for PAL must meet competencies required by ACEND that are equivalent to an entry-level dietitian. Internship credit is given for learning and gaining knowledge and experience through the work of a professional career. The credit is not for work projects but is given when an intern demonstrates an increase in knowledge and learning. Typically, the individual qualifying for this credit is a “non-traditional” applicant who has already had several years of work experience.

PAL will not be granted as a replacement for any of the didactic portion of the internship (e.g. program assignments or business plans).  Experiences submitted for PAL can have taken place before, during and after DPD education.  Applicants are encouraged to discuss potential PAL experiences with the Internship Director and Assistant Director prior to preparing and submitting the PAL application materials.  There is no “advance PAL” for work that has yet to be completed.

• PAL applications are evaluated only after the intern’s match to the KBDI.
• PAL credit will not exceed 2 weeks or 80 hours.
• The tuition and fees for the Internship will remain the same, regardless of the amount of PAL granted.
• Submission of a request for PAL credit does not guarantee that such credit will be awarded, in full or in part as requested.
• Decisions regarding the awarding of PAL credit are at the sole discretion of the Internship Director and Assistant Director.

Application for PAL credit shall include the following:

• Experiences submitted for PAL evaluation must be classified as by the rotation(s) to which they apply.
• Projects, reports, presentations, and educational materials produced by the applicant which demonstrate advanced knowledge and skills will be evaluated for PAL credit. Job descriptions, performance evaluations, letters from clients, and so on, can be used as supporting documentation of knowledge and skills, as applicable.

These supporting materials shall be clearly labeled as to which experience(s) they are applicable. They must be neatly bound in a folder or portfolio cover. Electronic files are preferred, but the PAL packet must all be in the same format.

All materials must be typewritten. Hand-written materials are not acceptable.

Applicants should indicate which of the ACEND competencies have been met by each experience submitted for evaluation.

Application for PAL credit should be submitted to the Internship Director at the date identified by the program, generally 4 – 6 weeks prior to the start of the internship term. This allows these applications to be evaluated in a timely manner, and applicants informed of credit awarded (if any) prior to the start of the internship term.

Additional documentation / clarification of activities must be provided to the DI Director upon request. Failure to do so in a timely manner may preclude obtaining PAL credit.

Please access a the PAL application form here: https://kbdinternship.com/internship-forms/