Multi Purpose Video Depicts Dietetic Internship

Abstract

Visualizing reality can inform, motivate, recruit, and orient varied audiences. We developed and produced a 15 minute video to depict our developmentally accredited graduate dietetic internship 1) for The American Dietetic Association internship accreditation site visitors, 2) as an internal and external recruitment tool, 3) to inform undergraduate students, and 4) to help orient our graduate dietetic interns before they begin their internship. As our interns utilize six geographically scattered medical facilities as primary internship sites, we used the video to depict important features of all sites, including the major locations the accreditation team could not visit. As internship director I obtained a small grant to finance the project and was responsible for the overall design, implementation, and evaluation of the video. A dietetic intern and I wrote the script. Throughout the process the six hospital internship site directors, RDs on the Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) faculty, and the FCS Dietetics Advisory Council provided input. The University Radio-Television Center produced the video. After the script was approved, interns at each site were responsible for all filming arrangements, including locations, equipment, personnel (interns, hospital staff and volunteers), and securing signed releases. Coordinating those arrangements was valuable experience for the interns, and the script writing intern contributed insightful student perspectives and gained valuable preprofessional experience. I made arrangements at community sites, accompanied the photographer/producer to each site and assisted with coaching the narrator, final editing, music selection and credits. The ADA site visitors rated the video as “excellent,” noting that it “helped [them] understand the overall internship and the different sites.” The video was well received at the annual fall information/recruitment meeting for dietetics students. It was especially popular with the dietetic interns at the semiannual orientation seminar. They obviously enjoyed it throughout, applauding at the end. Although some students will see the video more than once, the impressions and information they gain will vary, depending on their stages of preprofessional development. The video is an effective multipurpose tool for varied audiences.