The Lead Nutrition Assistant collaborates with both nutrition staff and hospital staff to provide optimal care and wellness to patients, staff, and visitors of Northern Arizona Healthcare. S/he assists the Clinical Nutrition Services Manager in the diet office and kitchen and supports the Nutrition Aides, Cooks, and Nutrition Assistants by preparing food for patients, visitors, and staff using menus, recipes, production sheets, tally sheets, cooking equipment, cooking methods, and using safe food handling techniques to help provide optimal nutritional care and wellness. S/he ensures that food production is of high quality and that all foods are prepared, cooked, and served in accordance with specified recipes and procedures. S/he maintains and carries out all NAH policies and procedures and ensures compliance with all CMS, County and other applicable regulatory agencies. The Lead Nutrition Assistant participates in interviewing, hiring and training new staff, schedules employees, and coaches and supervises staff. The Lead Nutrition Assistant modifies and builds the electronic patient menu system and takes room service meal orders in the call center following dietary guidelines and protocols.

Food Preparation
* Follows guidelines of preparation and recipes for all patients and cafeteria meals.

* Follows production tool and/or electronic meal tallies/differentials for food preparation.

* Follows therapeutic diet modifications and guidelines for all patient meal trays, nourishments, snacks and supplements.

* Cooks, preps and delivers food and trays.

 
Resource Management
* Assists with interviewing, hiring, training, coaching, and supervision of staff.

* Maintains staffing to meet department productivity goals.

* Assists with scheduling and trades to meet the department anticipated volumes.

* Makes workload adjustments as necessary.

* Demonstrates the ability to cover the basic functions of the department secretary such as processing invoices, ordering supplies, placing menus on the portal, and document control.

 
Dietary and Data Integrity
* Demonstrates knowledge of dietary office system and ability to access patient diet list, electronic diet office system.

* Demonstrates knowledge of general diet office organization, and Nutrition Assistant job routines.

* Demonstrates ability to troubleshoot diet office computer system issues.

* Demonstrates ability to build diet office menu cycles, diets, holiday cycles, and compliances.

* Demonstrates ability to obtain and process patient meal orders.

* Implements disaster diet office procedures when computer applications are down.

* Assists with diet office upgrades by coordinating with IT and project managers and non-IT stakeholders.

* Demonstrates ability to work any Nutrition Assistant job routine.

* Maintains essential records for reports.

* Builds and maintains diet office software and coordinates software downtime and upgrades with IT department.

 
Meal Preparation and Delivery
* Assures patient meal tray tickets and tray delivery are completed in a timely manner.

* Manages floor stock process; assures food and supplies are available at the nursing stations.

* Demonstrates an understanding of all diet types and food allergies and processes orders for accuracy.

* Prepares the computer hardware for the Nutrition Assistant staff assignment for taking patient menus and diet orders.

 
Sanitization/Safety
* Adheres to Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP).

* Checks food temperature before tray line to assure the temperatures are within defined ranges.

* Follows hospital guidelines for hand hygiene.

* Follows hospital safety guidelines.

 
Compliance/Safety
* Responsible for reporting any safety-related incident in a timely fashion through the Midas/RDE tool; attends all safety-related training programs; performs work in a safe manner; monitors work environment for possible safety issues and ensures others are also performing work in a safe manner.

* Stays current and complies with state and federal regulations/statutes and company policies that impact the employee's area of responsibility.

* If required for the position, ensures all certifications and/or licenses are up-to-date and valid prior to expiration dates.

* Completes all company mandatory modules and required job-specific training in the specified time frame.

* Monitors work environment for possible safety issues and ensures others are also performing work in a safe manner.

Education
High School Diploma or GED- Required

Certification & Licensures
VVMC Nutrition Services:
Yavapai County Health Department Food Handler certificate- Required within 30 days of hire

Dietary Managers Certificate (CDM) or Registered Diet Technician (RDT)- Preferred

Experience
Previous healthcare food service/nutrition- Preferred

Previous experience as a diet technician or dietary manager- Preferred

Previous supervisor experience- Preferred

Previous experience with diet office software- Preferred

Healthcare is a rapidly changing environment and technology is integrated into almost all aspects of patient care. Computers and other electronic devices are utilized across the organization and throughout each department. Colleagues must have an understanding of computers, and competence in using computers and basic software programs.