Supervised Clinical Practice Experience

An essential component of ACEND’s Future Education Model (FEM) and Competency-Based Education (CBE) is supervised experiential learning. The MSCN Program plans 1200 hours of supervised experiential learning through:

• Supervised Clinical Practice Experience (SCPE) rotations in professional work settings throughout the region (up to 1080 hours)
• Alternate authentic work experiences, including complex case studies, simulations, standardized patient exercises, and role-playing – scheduled within didactic courses to practice, apply and demonstrate competency (120 alternate experiential hours)

SCPE Courses

During the last three trimesters of the MSCN program, students complete Supervised Clinical Practice Experience I, II, and III (NUTR 287A, 287B, and 287C, respectively). The MSCN program curriculum plans for 30 weeks of supervised clinical practice experience (SCPE) representing the diverse individual and population care delivery settings that registered dietitian nutritionists apply their clinical training and leadership across the continuum of care. The program approaches SCPE holistically and aims to offer learning opportunities with rotations in innovative and expanding areas of practice. SCPE rotations are summarized below, indicating the rotation type and duration (in weeks). SCPE rotations are scheduled within the 10-week blocks afforded by the trimester schedule. While the sequence of rotations will differ for each student, all students complete SCPEs including the same ACEND^® Future Education Model (FEM) Graduate Degree Competencies.

The MSCN Clinical Coordinator identifies the SPCE sites and creates the rotation schedule for each student depending on site availability and student needs. Sites are located within the state of California.