UMaine’s Dietetic Internship program offers workshop to registered dietitians

A free workshop for registered dietitians (RD) in Maine was offered as an outreach effort by the University of Maine’s Dietetic Internship program in May. A second workshop will be offered in August to meet the high demand.

The Dietetic Internship is housed within the School of Food and Agriculture in the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture.

Participants learned how to to conduct nutrition-focused physical examinations (NFPE), which are a valuable tool for detecting malnutrition among hospital patients. Additionally, strong NFPE skills among RDs strengthen the profession of dietetics and give RDs the necessary expertise to provide state-of-the-art patient care.

The workshop offered training and continuing education credits for RDs working in Maine health care settings. This professional development, in turn, benefits UMaine and graduate dietetic interns in the Food Science and Human Nutrition program who are mentored by the RDs while in supervised practice.

The training was led by Mona Therrien, director of UMaine’s Dietetic Internship program, and Jennifer Minieri, a recent UMaine alumna and a Maine-licensed dietitian.