Patient Dining Associate

The Hospital of Central Connecticut•New Britain, CT

12d•Onsite

About The Position

The Patient Dining Associate is responsible for patient food service on assigned hospital units. Duties include taking menu selections, assembling and delivering meal trays, picking up trays, stocking patient units as needed, and fulfilling special food requests between meals. The associate maintains accurate, current patient information and follows prescribed diet restrictions, food allergies and sensitivities, and patients’ cultural, ethnic, and religious preferences when offering menu choices or alternatives. The role involves coordinating with Nursing to confirm diet prescriptions and meet patients’ food needs, rounding after meals to check on patients, and assisting dietitians with monitoring patients who are NPO, on liquid diets, or have calorie counts ordered. The associate reports patient-related concerns promptly according to departmental procedures, participates in meetings and staff development as appropriate, and performs other related duties as required. The schedule is 3.5 twelve-hour shifts per week, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., at 100 Grand Street in New Britain.

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.
Ability to operate the hospital’s admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT) system and other computer-based systems that manage patient-care records.
Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.
Ability to apply common-sense understanding to carry out written or oral instructions.

Nice To Haves

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

Responsibilities

Provide patient food service on assigned units, including taking menu selections, assembling and delivering trays, picking up trays, stocking units as needed, and fulfilling special food requests between meals.
Maintain accurate and current information for each patient on the assigned unit.
Take menu selections before meal service while complying with prescribed dietary restrictions and modified diets.
Offer menu alternatives permitted by prescribed diets, taking food allergies, sensitivities, and cultural, ethnic, and religious preferences into account.
Interact with Nursing to ensure diet prescriptions are accurate and patients’ food needs are met.
Round on patients after trays are passed to check on them and address additional needs.
Retrieve trays from patients after meals.
May assist dietitians in 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 follow departmental procedures.
Attend departmental meetings and staff development programs as appropriate.
Perform other related duties as required.