Nutrition Assistant

Manchester Memorial Hospital

10d

About The Position

The Nutrition Assistant reports to the Clinical Nutrition Manager and performs patient-service tasks, providing a high level of customer service to patients. The role visits and assists inpatients with menu selections on assigned units each day, accommodating special dietary, cultural, and religious needs and considering patients’ age, development, condition, and food preferences. The assistant collects and processes menus, uses Meditech to manage diet orders and patient changes, and communicates patient concerns to the Dietetic Technician, Dietitian, or Manager. The position also supports quality inpatient care in accordance with JCAHO standards and participates in the orientation and training of new employees, students, and volunteers. Responsibilities include maintaining accurate patient diet information and menus; reviewing and updating menus before meals; entering and updating snacks and oral supplements; preparing meal-count documents; correcting menus to match physician-prescribed diet orders; responding to admissions, discharges, diet changes, and room changes; participating in customer service surveys and quality-improvement tracking; and attending department meetings and clinical in-services.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent (GED).
Able to read, write, speak, and comprehend English.
Knowledge of nutritional structure and the needs of different classes of people within that structure.
Demonstrated ability to use the Meditech computerized system.
Excellent communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with Meditech is preferred.

Responsibilities

Assist patients with menu selection, taking special needs and religious or cultural beliefs into account.
Obtain menus for new admissions promptly and ensure filled menus are available for inpatients for the following day’s breakfast.
Collect and process menus for assigned areas and select appropriate meals based on patients’ age, development, condition, and food preferences.
Use Meditech to manage diet orders, admissions, transfers, discharges, snacks, and tube feedings.
Maintain diet census sheets and patient profile information that is current, accurate, and legible.
Record the full diet order, allergies, patient details, and selected menu items accurately on menus and patient profile sheets, using the appropriate menu color and allergy notation.
Review and update menus before each meal and organize hold trays and NPO patient menus for retrieval when diet status or oral intake resumes.
Enter ordered snacks and oral supplements in Meditech, and update them when patients become NPO or resume a diet.
Complete grill sheets, cold specials sheets, add-on sheets, and the daily meal census accurately and legibly before each meal.
Correct and modify inpatient menus to comply with physician-prescribed diet orders and established guidelines.
Implement phone or computer orders for admissions, discharges, diet changes, and room changes, and update related records, menus, and Meditech entries.
Use proper telephone etiquette and communicate patient concerns to the Dietetic Technician, Dietitian, or Manager.
Participate in customer service surveys and quality-improvement tracking of the NPO indicator, including daily documentation on the designated form.
Apply JCAHO standards and Connecticut State Department of Health regulations.
Participate in the orientation and training of new employees, students, and volunteers.
Attend monthly clinical in-services and department meetings.