Implementing a Scaffolded Curriculum in Dietetics Training to Support Student Readiness for Clinical Practice

Dietetics trainees have reported gaps in practice when translating knowledge and skills learned in didactic settings. To address these gaps, a scaffolded curricular model was implemented into a Future Education Model Graduate Program in Dietetics. A nutrition counseling program that engaged students with student (“peer”) clients and community member clients, called the Nutrition Counseling Center (NCC), was established as a curricular steppingstone to support the development of students’ counseling skills after the classroom setting but before entering clinical sites. The scaffolded approach has been implemented for two semesters thus far, providing the program director and instructors with challenges and solutions generated for future years. We describe current lessons learned, including student readiness, HIPAA and sensitive client information, scheduling, client population descriptions, and marketing and advertising as well as solutions that have or will be implemented. The success of this scaffolded approach to dietetics training will be evaluated through formal processes to understand how to best support dietetics trainees’ transition to practice, to provide continued quality improvement in the program for continued success of future cohorts, and to inform curricular development among the broader dietetics field to impact patient and population health.