Nutrition Assistant 2

CommonSpirit Health•Camarillo, CA

About The Position

The Nutrition Assistant helps deliver high-quality, safe, and efficient food services to patients and staff. The role includes preparing and delivering meal trays, assisting with food preparation, maintaining cleanliness and food safety, and interacting with patients about dietary needs. The Nutrition Assistant prepares and serves food according to menus and dietary requirements, uses required kitchen utensils and equipment, and maintains knowledge of recipe ingredients to answer questions about allergies. The position follows healthcare foodservice standards and procedures for food temperatures, storage, labeling, hygiene, and prevention of cross-contamination. It also supports a high-quality patient and customer experience through accurate meal portions, appealing presentation, and service recovery, escalating issues to leadership when needed. Depending on assignment, duties may include following therapeutic diet and allergy guidelines; using production tools or electronic meal tallies; explaining basic therapeutic diets and menus; collecting patient food preferences and sharing them with the kitchen; operating diet-office software and accessing patient diet orders and nutrition reports in electronic health records; and cleaning equipment and work areas.

Requirements

One year of foodservice experience.
High school graduate in General Studies, a High School GED in General Studies, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Responsibilities

Prepare and serve food in accordance with menus and dietary requirements using required kitchen utensils and equipment.
Maintain knowledge of recipe ingredients to respond to food allergy questions and requests.
Follow foodservice standards and procedures, including monitoring food temperatures during cooking, holding, and storage.
Prevent food cross-contamination and follow personal hygiene requirements.
Label food products properly and store food, equipment, and machinery according to regulations and facility guidelines.
Follow organizational standards and guidelines for a high-quality patient and customer experience.
Ensure proper meal portioning and appealing presentation.
Provide service recovery and escalate issues to leadership as needed.
Follow therapeutic diet modifications and allergy restrictions for patient meals, nourishment, snacks, and supplements, as assigned.
Use production tools or electronic meal tallies and differentials for food preparation, as assigned.
Explain basic therapeutic diet orders and menus and respond to questions from patients and family members.
Escalate additional patient nutrition questions or needs to appropriate clinical support team members.
Collect patient food preferences, ensure compliance with prescribed diet orders, and communicate preferences to the kitchen in a timely manner.
Operate electronic diet-office software and tools according to established procedures and protocols.
Navigate electronic health records to access patient diet orders and nutritional reports.
Clean equipment and work areas, including tray lines, equipment, coolers, and office areas, and empty trash cans.