Patient Dining Aide (Per Diem)

St. Vincent's Medical Center•Bridgeport, CT

11d•Onsite

About The Position

The Patient Dining Aide is responsible for patient food service on assigned units, including obtaining menu selections, assembling and delivering meal trays, retrieving trays, stocking patient units as needed, and fulfilling special requests between meals. The aide maintains accurate, current information for each patient and ensures menu selections comply with dietary restrictions and prescribed diet orders. The role includes offering suitable menu alternatives in consideration of prescribed diets, food allergies and sensitivities, and patients’ cultural, ethnic, and religious preferences. The aide works with Nursing to verify diet prescriptions and meet patients’ food needs, rounds after meal trays are delivered to check on patients, and may assist dietitians with monitoring patients who are NPO, on liquid diets, or have a calorie count ordered. Patient-related concerns must be communicated to appropriate personnel in a timely manner according to departmental procedures. The aide also participates in departmental meetings and staff development programs as appropriate and performs other related duties as required. This per-diem position works 12-hour shifts from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekends and holidays at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Requirements

Must be able to read and speak English.
Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals; may need to compute ratios and percentages.
Possess the skills needed to operate the hospital’s admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT) system and other computer-based systems for managing patient-care records.
Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.

Nice To Haves

High school diploma or GED preferred.
Two years of customer service experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Obtain patients’ menu selections before meal service while following dietary restrictions and special or modified diet orders.
Offer menu alternatives permitted by prescribed diets and consider food allergies, sensitivities, and cultural, ethnic, and religious preferences.
Assemble and deliver meal trays, retrieve trays after meals, stock patient units as needed, and fulfill special food requests between meals.
Maintain accurate and current information for patients on assigned units.
Coordinate with Nursing to ensure patients’ diet prescriptions are accurate and food needs are met.
Round on patients after trays are delivered to check on them and address additional needs.
May assist dietitians with monitoring patients who are NPO, on liquid diets, or have a calorie count ordered.
Communicate patient-related problems or concerns to appropriate personnel promptly and according to departmental procedures.
Participate in departmental meetings and staff development programs as appropriate.
Perform other related duties as required.