Kansas City Internship Program

ARAMARK Healthcare sponsors the Kansas City Dietetic Internship program. The ARAMARK Kansas City Dietetic Internship program is based out of St. Joseph Medical Center in Kansas City, MO with additional rotation experiences available in Kansas City, KS and Topeka, KS. The program has been accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education of The American Dietetic Association, 120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60606, 312/899-4876.

Interns can have the opportunity to gain additional dietetic experiences with ARAMARK's Correctional Division, located in Lansing, KS as well as with ARAMARK’s Business Services Division, located in Overland Park, KS.

The program has graduated 143 interns since its inception in 1992. One class is offered annually with a start date in September.

Length of Program

This program is 37 weeks long and starts in September.

Class Days

Classes are usually held twice a month at Saint Joseph Medical Center. The classes allow for a review of undergraduate competencies, intern presentations, discussion of case studies, and sharing of experiences. Throughout the internship, interns will take practice exams in order to help prepare for the RD exam. Interns are also involved with several collaborative, team projects in addition to their regularly scheduled rotations, i.e. National Nutrition Month campaigns and development of a community-based nutrition program.

The majority of rotation sites are located within a 30-75 minute drive from Saint Joseph Medical Center which is located in south Kansas City at I-435 and State Line Road.

Generalist Emphasis

The program has a generalist emphasisand is divided into approximately two weeks of program orientation/administrative sessions, 19 weeks of clinical rotations (including one week of clinical orientation), 11 weeks of management rotations, and 4 weeks of community rotations.

Application Process and Deadline

The program is approved to accept 8 interns yearly.

Please visit Admission Requirements for complete details. All materials must be completed and submitted in one packet to the Program Director by January 15th.

Packet should be addressed to:
Amy Wampler, MS, RD, LD
ARAMARK Dietetic Internship Director
Saint Joseph Medical Center
1000 Carondelet Drive
Kansas City, MO 64114

Selection Process

The selection committee rates all of the applications based on GPA, work experience, completeness of application, community involvement and letters of recommendation. The top intern candidates are invited for an interview (interview costs are the intern's responsibility). After the interview process, interns are ranked and the list is sent to D&D Digital for computer matching.

Background Clearance

Students that match to the Kansas City ARAMARK Dietetic Internship will be required to have a background check completed prior to final acceptance in the program.

For More Information

Please contact Amy Wampler for more information or to schedule a visit. She can be reached at 816-943-2146 or at wampler-amy@aramark.com.

Clinical Rotations
The clinical rotation is designed to gradually build the interns’ clinical knowledge and skills over a 19-week period. The clinical rotation will provide planned experiences and review medical nutrition therapy for disease states such as gastrointestinal, cardiac, diabetes, renal, oncology, HIV/AIDS, and pulmonary disease.

Foundation skills will be built upon by incorporating complex cases as the intern progresses through their clinical rotation. Complex cases may include patients with multiple disease states with or without nutrition support therapy, including the critically ill population. Additional experiences such as long term care, pediatrics, outpatient diabetes, and/or outpatient renal may be incorporated into the curriculum.

Interns will have the opportunity to participate in a clinical staff relief rotation which will culminate the clinical experience. Interns will be responsible for practicing as an entry-level clinical dietitian with tasks involving, but not limited to, nutrition screening, assessment, development of nutrition care plans, monitoring of interventions, multi-disciplinary team meetings, and/or department meetings.

The intern will work one-on-one with a clinical preceptor throughout their clinical rotation. Clinical rotation sites include:

Saint Joseph Medical Center, Kansas City, Missouri
St. Mary’s Hospital, Blue Springs, Missouri
Providence Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas
St. Francis Medical Center, Topeka, Kansas
Saint John’s Hospital, Leavenworth, Kansas
Saint Luke’s Northland, Kansas City, Missouri
Kindred Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri

Management Rotations
The management experience is 11 weeks. Curriculum is focused on the following areas:

Purchasing, Quantity Foods, Safety and Sanitation.
Patient Services, Food Service Systems, and Clinical Nutrition Management
Retail Management, Marketing, and Financial Management

Interns will have the opportunity to participate in a management staff relief rotation to gain experience functioning as the supervisor/coordinator of a unit operation, which is primarily conducted within a patient services unit. The intern develops skills in supervising staff, handling human resource functions (counseling and coaching), scheduling, managing service recovery/customer service issues, and supervision of food service principles.

The intern will work one-on-one with a preceptor/manager to develop management skills. The management rotation sites include:

Saint Joseph Medical Center, Kansas City, Missouri
St. Mary’s Hospital of Blue Springs, Missouri
Providence Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas
Saint John’s Hospital, Leavenworth, Kansas
Kindred Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri
Lansing Correctional Facility, Lansing, Kansas (optional)

On-going throughout the management rotations, interns have the opportunity to complete management projects. The projects vary from year to year. The ServSafe Course and ServSafe Examination will be made available for interns that are not currently ServSafe certified.

Community Rotations
Interns will spend 4 weeks participating in various community rotations at the following sites:

Women, Infants, and Children
Saint Joseph Medical Center Well*Life Center
University of Missouri and Kansas State University Research & Extension
Nutra Net – Non-profit nutrition education program targeted at school and community settings

One of the goals of the internship is to provide a “real life” professional experience. Interns are expected to work the hours of their preceptors. Therefore, the internship is approximately 40 hours per week and may include some evenings, weekend days, and holidays.