Patient Dining Assistant

Legacy Health•Portland, OR

9d•$18 - $25

About The Position

Patients feel comfortable seeking your advice on meals and snacks because of your keen understanding of dietary restrictions and your ability to recommend the best food options. Your caring and competent nature aligns perfectly with Legacy’s mission of making life better for others. As a natural “people person,” the Patient Dining Assistant communicates directly with patients—in person or by phone—to assist with meal ordering based on their dietary needs. As a valued member of the food and nutrition team, you accurately input menu selections, respond promptly to nursing unit requests, and ensure that patients’ meals consistently adhere to prescribed diet orders.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent preferred.
Experience in customer service environment, and computer operations required.
Knowledge of specialized diets, hospital processes, medical terminology, along with emergency codes and responses are essential for this position.
Experienced in use of computers, with focus on data input, production reports/tallies.
Ability to work efficiently without direct supervision; time management skills are essential.
Ability to manage high call volumes – to courteously receive patient phone calls, process the information and accurately enter into computer system.
Demonstrates the ability to speak clearly and be easily understood in a positive and professional manner.
Ability to complete all conversations in a positive and helpful manner while meeting time management expectations.
Ability to understand and determine patient requests when language or communication style may be difficult to understand, or other patient complications exist.
Ability to triage and manage requests to ensure that customer service and essential job functions are always maintained.
Ability to understand, operate and problem solve office equipment issues.
Ability to interact effectively with hospital and department computer software programs.
Ability to understand and utilize patient nutrition related information.
Ability to successfully negotiate patient meal choices during phone interactions.
Current Food Handler’s Certificate/Card for applicable County/State.

Nice To Haves

Experience in high volume call center, and food service operations with knowledge of therapeutic diets are preferred.
Registered Diet Technician preferred.

Responsibilities

Provide excellent customer service as the Nutrition Services “greeter,” communicating directly with patients by telephone or in person.
Serve meals to patients in a professional and efficient manner.
Instruct patients on how to use the meal ordering system and assist them in placing orders.
Assess patients’ ability to utilize the meal order system independently.
Complete calorie counts by accurately recording patient intake.
Clearly communicate diet order restrictions to patients to ensure safety and compliance.
Take patient meal and snack orders and input selections accurately into the system.
Print and manage meal tickets; respond to printed requests from nursing units.
Ensure patient meal selections align with prescribed diet orders.
Collaborate with nurses, dietitians, and other members of the food and nutrition team to support patient care.