Patient Dining Associate

The Hospital of Central Connecticut•New Britain, CT

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Patient Dining Associate is responsible for food service for patients on assigned hospital units. The role includes collecting menu selections, assembling and delivering meal trays, picking up trays, stocking patient units as needed, and delivering food in response to special requests between meals. The associate maintains accurate, current patient information and ensures meal choices comply with prescribed diets, allergies, sensitivities, and patient preferences, including cultural, ethnic, and religious preferences. The associate works with Nursing to confirm diet prescriptions and meet patients’ food needs, rounds after meals to address additional needs, and may help the dietitian monitor patients who are NPO, on liquid diets, or have a calorie count ordered. The role also involves promptly reporting patient-related concerns according to departmental procedures, attending departmental meetings and staff development programs as appropriate, and performing other related duties as required.

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 for managing patient-care records.
Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.
Ability to understand and carry out written or oral instructions using common sense.

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 menu selection, tray assembly, tray delivery and pickup, stocking units, and fulfilling special requests between meals.
Maintain accurate and current information for patients on assigned units.
Take menu selections before meal service while following prescribed special or modified diet restrictions.
Offer appropriate menu alternatives in consideration of prescribed diets, food allergies and sensitivities, and cultural, ethnic, and religious preferences.
Interact with Nursing to ensure diet prescriptions are accurate and patient food needs are met.
Round on patients after trays are delivered to check on their needs and retrieve trays after meals.
May assist the dietitian in monitoring patients who are NPO, on liquid diets, or have a calorie count ordered.
Communicate patient-related problems or concerns promptly to appropriate personnel according to departmental procedures.
Participate in departmental meetings and staff development programs as appropriate.
Perform other related duties as required.