Dietetic Aide Sr - Nutrition Services

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health•Lebanon, NH

About The Position

The Food & Nutrition Services (FNS) Department at Dartmouth-Hitchcock encompasses Patient Food Services, Clinical Nutrition, and Dining Services. FNS aims to provide a nutritional environment which supports a population-level approach to a healthy diet and aligns with the D-H commitment to improve the health and wellness of our patients, employees, and community and create a sustainable health system.The Dietetic Aide at Dartmouth-Hitchcock works directly with our patients by completing activities related to patient nutritional care, meal service delivery and assists patients with menu completion. We are offering a $3,000 sign-on/retention bonus for this position. The bonus is available for external hires only (or current D-H employees moving to a 30 - 40 hour per week position from a per diem role) and certain conditions apply. Reviews, processes, and tracks all patient dietary needs, responds to patient calls, provides instruction/support to staff for communicating with patients and may act as liaison between physicians /nurses and families, to ensure patients receive the right diet orders and food items as ordered by the provider.

Requirements

High school graduate or equivalent required.
Knowledge of diet orders, as well as the ability to follow up on orders and problem solve for patient needs related to the diet order.
Ability to effectively interact with patients, providers, and staff a must.
Able to prioritize and multitask. Must be able to have multiple computer applications open at one time and simultaneously answer & respond to all inquiries & services needed by multiple individuals
Must be able to work the following applications/systems: Microsoft Office, Computrition, FileMaker Pro, Ed-H, and the Organization Copier system.
Must have prior computer experience, excellent communication skills, and attention to detail while on the phone.
Knowledge of the phone system needed to interact with Patients, Clinicians, Doctors, Dietitians, Managers, and all other individuals that may need clarification or help with problem solving of the patient diet needs. This includes direct contact with individuals as well as the retrieval of messages from the voicemail system
Clerical skills for recording, filing, communicating, correcting data, and all data entry into the various applications systems

Nice To Haves

1 year experience in provider office preferred

Responsibilities

In addition to the duties of the Food Service Attendant, carries out activities related to processing patient menus and diet orders in the computer, processing reports used in tray assembly, and meal service delivery and assists patient with menu completion and corrections.
Processes all changes or new eD-H diet orders into our computerized system, Computrition.
Responds to patient calls providing general information and education/diet orders. Understands the diet restrictions for the different diet orders.
Greets patients, asks appropriate questions as necessary, answers questions and assists patients with completion of food orders, acknowledges any delays and keeps patients updated on arrival of their meal times.
Assesses needs of patients and processes requests for diet orders.
Completes any follow up needs for patients as directed by the diet order or phone message left on voicemail regarding food choices.
Receives incoming phone calls from patients, other staff or external families. Appropriately assesses the needs of the caller and processes requests, takes messages and documents the time of the call and tickets are processed per diet order changes.
Monitors and completes system messages in a timely manner to meet patients’ needs. Monitors incoming faxes regularly and reviews each to determine the proper course of action in a timely manner to make sure all patients are feed in a timely
Reviews all menu requests for modified diets such as, 2 gm sodium, renal diets, and fluid restrictions. Substitutes menu items and/or adjusts portion sizes to adhere to diet orders.
Supports providers and staff in addressing patient questions/concerns. Provides instruction/support to providers and staff on communicating with patients regarding these questions or concerns with their diets.
Responds to minor patient concerns and complaints. Reports all concerns and complaints to supervisor/manager to ensure patient satisfaction with their food items.
Acts as liaison between patients and Dietetic Technician (DT) or Register Dietitian (RD), to ensure all food items are sent when requested by the patients. Consults with the DT and RD as needed to answer questions when eD-H consults are ordered
Performs other duties as required or assigned.