The IMU Dietetics with Nutrition programme has established a partnership with the Rutgers School of Health Professions, which is renowned for being the largest and most comprehensive health professions school in the United States. This school is also ranked number one in the Best Colleges for studying Health Professions. As a result of this partnership, IMU Dietetics with Nutrition graduates now have the exclusive opportunity to pursue a master’s degree in Clinical Nutrition at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA.
Our first graduate of this partnership – Dennis, who is an international student from Indonesia, has been successfully credentialed as the Registered Dietitian (RD) in the States in February this year (2023). Dennis is the first few US RD in Indonesia! He is currently hired as the Bariatric Surgery Dietitian in the Rutgers University Hospital, New Jersey.
After the completion of the 4-year BSc (Hons) Dietetics with Nutrition in IMU, Dennis gained some working experience as a clinical dietitian in his home country during the first semester of the master’s degree. He took this opportunity to gain more real-life experience on integrating his dietetics knowledge into practice. This was possible because the first semester of the master’s degree in Clinical Nutrition adopts the distance education approach. Dennis began travelling to New Jersey to start his second semester and spent the remaining 1 year in the States for the master’s degree and a dietetics internship with guaranteed places in the US accredited hospitals.
“My exposure and training in the IMU Dietetics with Nutrition Programme have acquainted me with the clinical settings and prepared me with the knowledge and skills to practice as an entry level dietitian during my dietetics clerkship at the Rutgers master’s programme.”
“IMU’s curriculum provides extensive topics and key domains that were delivered with comprehensive lecture notes, which are all pre-requisite requirements to pass the Commission Dietetic Registration (CDR) examination for RDN, as the exam covered specific topics that were all covered throughout the IMU’s curriculum. I was exposed to activities like problem-based learning (PBL) sessions, weekly practicum case presentations, and clinical simulation lab activities throughout the four years in IMU, which helped me tremendously to excel in these activities.”
“Moreover, I had the pleasure to learn and perform the Nutrition Focused Physical Examination (NFPE), a set of very current hands-on physical examination skills at the IMU clinical simulation lab during my last semester, which motivated me to pursue a master’s degree as it expanded my understanding of the dietitian’s scope of practice in clinical settings.” said Dennis (An IMU Dietetics with Nutrition graduate of cohort DN116 who graduated in November 2020).
Dennis is very appreciative on his learning experience in IMU. “I would say that the learning experience in IMU ensured me to pass the clerkship in the Rutgers with ease. Graduating from the Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition has assisted me in developing my competency as an entry-level dietitian, in terms of refining my clinical judgment in performing nutrition care processes for diverse medical conditions. Furthermore, it broadened my perspective on the spectrum of dietetics practice and allowed me to forge a new path towards pursuing and mastering a specific clinical dietitian specialisation, such as nutrition support in critical and palliative care.”
