Patient Nutrition Assistant

Work Shift

Evening/Night

Scheduled Weekly Hours

20

Summary

This position supports Mercy's philosophy of patient centered care by serving fresh, flavorful, nutritious food in a caring manner to patients, families, and staff. The Patient Nutrition Assistant is responsible for patient menu processes – which includes delivering meals and collecting trays, assisting patients with menu selections and correcting menus per diet ordered by physician and food preferences. Demonstrates excellent customer service relationships with external and internal customers.

Job Description

Job Duties

• Provides exceptional customer care through room service.
  • assisting with meal selection via phone or bedside while following prescribed diet.
  • delivery and set up of meal trays that are accurate, correct temperature, aesthetically pleasing, and accessible to the patient (including opening items).
  • collection of meal trays with accurate calculation and documentation of percentage of meal consumed, fluid intake, grams of carbohydrates consumed, and calorie counts.
• Maintains effective communication.
  • with kitchen staff for menu selections, special needs, special requests, food quality, tray accuracy, patient concerns and compliments.
  • with nursing for patient needs including tray arrival for patients requiring feeding supervision or the amount of carbohydrates consumed at a meal for insulin administration.
• Manages customer concerns in a timely and caring manner utilizing service recovery and commitment to Service Excellence.
• Practices safe food handling and maintains a clean and orderly work area throughout shift.
• Maintains knowledge of Nutrition Services software, Electronic Medical Record, and Point of Sale system.
• Follows Mercy's safety guidelines, carries out job-specific safety duties and responsibilities, and promptly reports any unsafe conditions, situations, incidents and injuries.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Must have knowledge of nutrition and special diets.
• Must be able to make appropriate decisions utilizing dietary guidelines for Patient's diet orders.
• Basic proficiency in operation of computer, calculator, fax machine, filing systems, telephone systems and medical terminology.
• Quality customer service.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Strong organizational skills, effective written and verbal communication.
• Demonstrates competency in specific skills as identified in the position core competency and annual competency.

Professional Experience

• One or more years of health care experience preferred.

Education

• High school diploma or equivalent preferred.

Licensure, Certification, Registration

• N/A

Physical Requirements

Light: Exert 20 lbs. of force occasionally and/or 10 lbs. of force frequently.

Pay Rate Type

Hourly

Mercy is an independent, community-based organization supporting the Cedar Rapids area for over 120 years.

Mercy is an equal-opportunity employer. We value diversity, equity, and inclusion and therefore evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, civil union status, parental status, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics.