Nutrition Technician - Nutritional Services

ABOUT MARINHEALTH
Are you looking for a place where you are empowered to bring innovation to reality? Join MarinHealth, an integrated, independent healthcare system with deep roots throughout the North Bay. With a world-class physician and clinical team, an affiliation with UCSF Health, an ever-expanding network of clinics, and a new state-of-the-art hospital, MarinHealth is growing quickly. MarinHealth comprises MarinHealth Medical Center, a 327-bed hospital in Greenbrae, and 55 primary care and specialty clinics in Marin, Sonoma, and Napa Counties. We attract healthcare’s most talented trailblazers who appreciate having the best of both worlds: the pioneering medicine of an academic medical center combined with an independent hospital's personalized, caring touch. 

MarinHealth is already realizing the benefits of impressive growth and has consistently earned high praise and accolades, including being Named One of the Top 250 Hospitals Nationwide by Healthgrades, receiving a 5-star Ranking for Overall Hospital Quality from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and being named the Best Hospital in San Francisco/Marin by Bay Area Parent, among others. 

Company:

Marin General Hospital dba MarinHealth Medical Center

Compensation Range:

$24.88 - $37.33

Work Shift:

Variable Shift (United States of America)

Scheduled Weekly Hours:

0

Job Description Summary:

The Nutrition Technician serves as the liaison between patients, staff, visitors and the Nutrition Services Department, organizing patient information into food service production.

Job Requirements, Prerequisites and Essential Functions:

Job Specifications:

Education:

• Two-year degree in a nutrition-related field preferred. High school diploma or equivalent required..

Experience:

• Previous diet tech, diet assistant or diet clerk experience in an acute care hospital preferred.
• Knowledge of modified and therapeutic diets required.
   

License and Certifications:

• ServeSafe (SSC) Certification required within 90 days of hire.
• Integrative Agitation Management (IAMTAC) required within 30 days of hire.

Prerequisite Skills:

• Ability to interact effectively with patients, staff and visitors in a professional manner.
• Ability to provide patient education regarding individual diet prescriptions at a level consistent with the patient’s ability to learn.
• Demonstrates exceptional customer service and strives to improve patient experiences with the Nutrition Services Department.
• Knowledge of modified and therapeutic diet principles; applies critical thinking skills to meet patient nutrition needs within the parameters of individual diet prescriptions.
• Demonstrates expert understanding of the production capabilities within the food service system.
• Ability to follow through and work independently with little supervision; problem solving skills are essential.
• Demonstrates effective written and oral communication in English. Proficient ability to communicate in Spanish is preferred.
• Ability to interview patients in person, including patients on infection control precautions, while using the appropriate level of Personal Protective Equipment.
• Basic computer skills.
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to accept changes as needs arise and desire to learn new technology.
• Ability to respond in a cooperative manner to crisis/emergency workload.

Primary Customer Served (Age Specific Criteria):

• (X) Infants: Birth up to 1 year
• (X) Toddlers: 1 up to 3 years
• (X) Preschool Children: 3 up to 6 years
• (X)  School Age Children: 6 up to 12 years
• (X)  Adolescents: 12 up to 18 years
• (X) Early Adults: 18 up to 45 years
• (X) Middle Adults: 45 up to 61 years
• (X) Late Adults: 61 up to 80 years
• (X) Late, Late Adults: 80 years and up

Employees in this position must be able to demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care and/or service based on the physical, psycho/social, educational, safety, and related criteria appropriate to the age of the patients served in his/her assigned service area.

Patient Privacy (HIPAA Compliance):

• Employees in this position have access to protected health information. The protected health information a person in this position can access includes demographics, date of service, insurance/billing, medical record summary information, and all other information that may be contained in patient records. This position requires patient health information to perform the functions outlined as part of this position description.

Duties And Responsibilities:

Essential (Not Modifiable)

• Provides basic patient education regarding individual therapeutic diet orders.
• Assists patients with menu selections using excellent customer service skills in a time-efficient manner.
• Offers patients alternative menu selections, using knowledge of modified and therapeutic diets and department production capabilities.
• Prepares production information for cooks, salad and cold food prep staff for patient meal service and between-meal nourishments.
• Utilizes the diet office software to provide tallies to production staff when needed and diet reports for diet office staff to ensure tray ticket and diet order accuracy.
• Answers the telephone promptly in a courteous and professional manner.
• Plans work time effectively to meet established deadlines for production.
• Supervises tray line, monitors each tray for accuracy and loads trays onto food carts. Leads tray line as a quiet, focused environment. Prepares late trays and
• arranges for delivery.
• Responsible for cash handling between the café and department safe when needed.
• Assists in maintaining temperature logs for refrigerators/freezers and monitoring the Checkpoint Temperature Control system.
• Assists in problem-solving technical issues within the diet office computer systems.
• Participates in performance improvement and patient safety initiatives.
• Contributes to the education of staff, interns and volunteers as needed.
• Consults with nursing staff, interdisciplinary care team, patients and/or patient’s family regarding appropriate nutrition care plan; facilitates implementation of care plan and food preferences.
• Visits newly admitted patients to explain diet orders, obtain food preferences, allergies and intolerances; communicates information to the clinical dietitians as needed.
• Communicates requests/needs for nutrition consults to the clinical dietitians.
• Prints and manages patient tray tickets prior to meal service; creates appropriate tray tickets for patients not participating in menu selection.
• Processes diet orders; maintains and updates patient database within CBORD, assuring information is consistent with hospital computer system.
• Communicates frequently with clinical dietitians and production staff regarding information and activities related to patient nutrition care; problem solves patient care issues using appropriate methods of communication.
• Checks email during each shift to remain engaged in hospital and department operations.
• Provides exceptional customer service in all patient interactions.
• Identifies appropriate solutions for patient issues related to meal service; provides service recovery as warranted.
• Adheres to MGH Service Standards and Behaviors.

Secondary (Modifiable)

• All other duties as assigned.
• Nutrition Techs who maintain an active Diet Technician, Registered (DTR) certification from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics may participate in additional duties under the supervision of a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN). These duties may include:
  • Assisting the RDN in nutrition assessment, implementation, and monitoring of medical nutrition therapy
  • Calculating calorie counts
  • Providing nutrition education to patients, families and groups within the hospital and/or community
  • Providing department in-services as needed

Accommodation:

Qualified applicants with disabilities may request reasonable accommodation during the application process by contacting Human Resources at 415-925-7040 or [email protected].

C.A.R.E.S. Standards:

MarinHealth seeks candidates ready to model our C.A.R.E.S. standards—Communication, Accountability, Respect, Excellence, Safety—which foster a healing, trust-based environment for patients and colleagues.

Health & Immunizations:

To protect employees, patients, and our community, MarinHealth requires measles, mumps, varicella, and annual influenza immunizations as a condition of employment (and annually thereafter). COVID-19 vaccination/booster remains strongly recommended. Medical or religious exemptions will be considered consistent with applicable law.

Compensation:

The posted pay range complies with applicable law and reflects what we reasonably expect to pay for this role. Individual pay is set by skills, experience, qualifications, and internal/market equity, consistent with MarinHealth’s compensation philosophy. Positions covered by collective bargaining agreements are governed by those agreements.

Equal Employment:

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status or disability status, and any other classifications protected by federal, state, and local laws.