Patient Dining Assistant

Legacy Health • Portland, OR

17h • $18 - $25

About The Position

The Patient Dining Assistant is a member of the food and nutrition team who communicates directly with patients, in person or by telephone, to help them order meals and snacks that meet their dietary needs. The role provides customer service, explains the meal-ordering system, records patient intake, and ensures meal selections are consistent with prescribed diet orders. The assistant also serves meals, responds to nursing unit requests, and works with nurses, dieticians, and other staff.

Requirements

• Experience in a customer service environment and computer operations.
• Knowledge of specialized diets, hospital processes, medical terminology, emergency codes, and responses.
• Computer experience focused on data input and production reports or tallies.
• Ability to work efficiently without direct supervision and manage time effectively.
• Ability to courteously handle high call volumes, process patient information, and enter it accurately into a computer system.
• Ability to speak clearly and communicate in a positive, professional manner.
• Ability to complete conversations positively and helpfully while meeting time-management expectations.
• Ability to understand patient requests when language, communication style, or other complications make them difficult to understand.
• Ability to triage and manage requests while maintaining customer service and essential job functions.
• Ability to understand, operate, and troubleshoot office equipment.
• Ability to interact effectively with hospital and department computer software programs.
• Ability to understand and use patient nutrition-related information.
• Ability to negotiate patient meal choices successfully during phone interactions.
• Current Food Handler’s Certificate/Card for the applicable county or state.

Nice To Haves

• High school diploma or equivalent preferred.
• Experience in a high-volume call center.
• Food service operations experience and knowledge of therapeutic diets.
• Registered Diet Technician.

Responsibilities

• Provide excellent customer service and communicate directly with patients by telephone or in person.
• Serve meals to patients in a professional, efficient manner.
• Instruct patients on the meal-ordering system and assess their ability to use it.
• Assist patients in placing meal orders and take their meal and snack choices.
• Complete calorie counts by recording patient intake.
• Clearly communicate diet-order restrictions to patients.
• Participate as part of the food and nutrition team with nurses, dieticians, and other staff.
• Accurately input menu selections, print meal tickets, respond to printed requests from nursing units, and ensure patient choices are consistent with diet orders.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Education Level: High school or GED