Dietician Clinical 1

Mercyhealth Wisconsin and Illinois•Rockford, IL

22h•Onsite

About The Position

This role involves screening and assessing patients for nutritional risks, developing and implementing nutrition care plans, and consulting with healthcare professionals to determine patient needs. The position also includes providing nutrition education, developing educational materials, and maintaining continuing education units for registration and licensure. For those assigned to Skilled Nursing Facilities, responsibilities extend to food service coordination, including monitoring food quality, sanitation, and resident satisfaction, as well as conducting sanitation audits and providing in-service training to food service staff. The role requires collaboration with various departments to ensure compliance with regulations and to improve patient nutrition status and food service operations.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree (if they are a Registered Dietitian prior to January 2024) from a four-year college or University or Master’s degree in Dietetics, Food Service, Food and Nutrition or related field.
Completion of an accredited or approved supervised practice program.
Registered with Commission on Dietetic Registration or eligible with registration within one year of hire.
State certification / licensure to meet state specific laws for practice as a Dietitian or licensure within one year of hire.
Sanitation License (required for skilled nursing facility dietitian) within six months of hire.
Passing the Driver’s License Check and/or Credit Check (for those positions requiring).
Passing the WI Caregiver Background Check and/or IL Health Care Workers Background Check.
Must be able to follow written/oral instructions.
Good interpretive / analytical skills
Good interpersonal / communication skills
Computer skills
Stand, walk, use hands to finger, handle or feel and talk or hear.
Good manual dexterity to operate keyboard and telephone.
Occasionally has prolonged periods of sitting.
Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, peripheral vision and ability to adjust focus.

Nice To Haves

Some independent judgment is required, but alternatives are limited by standard practices or procedures.

Responsibilities

Screens and assesses patients’ status for nutritional risk factors per protocol.
Prepares Nutrition assessment based upon information obtained from history, including recommendation of appropriate diet prescription.
Plans nutrition care goals, completes timely follow-up and documentation in the medical record.
Develops and implements plan of care based on assessment of nutritional needs and available sources, and correlates plan with other healthcare providers.
Evaluates nutritional care and provides follow up continuity of care.
Consults with physicians and other health care professionals to determine patient’s nutritional needs and diet restrictions.
Organizes daily tasks to complete needed activities in a timely manner.
Participates as a team player with the rest of the clinical nutrition staff by communicating effectively and identifying priority duties.
Participate in clinical meetings to discuss policy and procedures and other topics.
Participates in interdisciplinary care rounds by providing input regarding patient nutrition status.
Discusses nutrition related problems with medical, nursing, and ancillary staff to improve nutrition status of assigned patients.
Maintains accurate records and assists in statistical analysis of data.
Assists in developing new programs including business plans as needed.
Assists in developing policies and procedures as appropriate.
Participates in food tasting panels, test trays, meal rounds, etc. to achieve/maintain above average ratings on patient satisfaction surveys.
Inspects meals served for conformance to prescribed diets and for standards of palatability and appearance.
Provides nutrition education to patients, the community, students and other health care professionals.
Develops nutrition education materials, programs, displays, etc.
Maintains CEU’s as required for registration and licensure.
Attends Mandatory In-services and completes online education as requested.
Participate in food tasting panels, test trays, meal rounds, to monitor food quality, temperatures, food handling and sanitation (for SNF partner).
Share results with Foodservice Coordinator, Foodservice staff and the Care Center Administrator to recommend improvements where indicated (for SNF partner).
Oversee meal service to the Care Center residents (for SNF partner).
Implement improvements where indicated for the Foodservice staff and the Nursing staff (for SNF partner).
Monitor resident dignity, resident choices, homelike environment, food safety, food presentation and appropriate nutrition and dietary interventions for residents (for SNF partner).
Complete Sanitation Audits in the Foodservice Department (for SNF partner).
Provide immediate corrective action where indicated (for SNF partner).
Provide report of audits to the Foodservice Coordinator, Food Service staff and Care Center Administrator (for SNF partner).
Review pertinent foodservice logs to ensure compliance to local, state and federal regulations (for SNF partner).
Organize and deliver in-service trainings in conjunction with the Foodservice Coordinator and Foodservice Management to the Foodservice staff (for SNF partner).
Work with the Foodservice Coordinator on Performance Improvement to develop indicators and to collect and report data quarterly (for SNF partner).
Function as a Liaison between the Foodservice department and the Care Center (for SNF partner).
Work with the Foodservice Coordinator to review and update the Foodservice Department policy and procedure manual (for SNF partner).
Monitor Foodservice staff regarding proper sanitation practices, hand hygiene, food handling, cross-contamination and treatment of potentially hazardous foods (for SNF partner).
Attend Foodservice staff huddles to communicate and reinforce foodservice practices, potential concerns, and any changes (for SNF partner).
Work with the Foodservice Coordinator when starting a new menu program or updating a current program (for SNF partner).
Assist Foodservice Coordinator and Foodservice management to direct and monitor the department practices regarding compliance to local state and Federal regulations (for SNF partner).
Update Resident diet sheets, diet tickets for meals including therapeutic diet tickets and the Foodservice Department productivity sheets as needed (for SNF partner).
Review recipes for HACCP protocols and food handling of potentially hazardous foods (for SNF partner).
Assess food service procedures and practices to discover areas for improvements to include productivity and efficiency as well as overall food safety (for SNF partner).