Food Service Worker

Food Service Associate

Position: Food Service Associate

Schedule: Full Time Rotating Days & Evening shift with weekend and holidays as required

Position Function:

• Portions and plates food before and during tray-line.
• Performs all tray-line tasks associated with the Patient Tray Service to ensure patient satisfaction.
• Performs a wide variety of functions to ensure timely, accurate, and courteous delivery and pick-up of patient trays and nourishment.
• Perform food preparation (i.e. gelatin, custard, sandwiches, salads, and desserts) for patient and customer satisfaction.
• Maintains sanitation standards for all dishes and equipment to ensure patient satisfaction and meet all health code standards.
• Stock and maintain sanitation standards for patient floor kitchens.

Job Relationships:

• Supervised and reportable to Food Service Managers.
• Must be able to effectively communicate with patients, visitors, and other hospital staff.

Authority:

• To be able to assemble and deliver patient meal trays timely and accurately.

Responsibilities/Essential Functions:

• Provides superior customer service to internal and external clients, customers, and patients as referenced in the Service Excellence Standards.
• Maintains tray-line standards to ensure that patient trays are accurate, timely, and of good quality.
• Ensures the maintenance of proper food temperatures during the tray-lines.
• Sets up tray-line to ensure quick and accurate serving of food.
• Serves appropriate food, beverages, condiments, and garnish in an attractive manner on all trays.
• Late trays are prepared quickly and accurately to ensure patient satisfaction.
• Produces and portions products according to established par levels utilizing recipes or directions to meet established standards.
• Prepares sandwich of the day and special salad/fruit plates.
• Prepares garnishes for days tray service.
• Has working knowledge of diet principles.
• Reads and interprets patient menu to assure patients get correct food and accompaniments.
• Places foods/beverages and condiments on patient tray assuring that principles of all diets are followed.
• Provides meal service to patients to support the departments mission.
• Meets food truck and begins delivering trays within 5 minutes of truck arrival.
• Delivers trays to patients bedside table for all patients except patients on respiratory isolation HOLD or NPO.
• Notifies nursing of all hold and isolation trays and passes them if appropriate.
• Checks trays against patient name on door to ensure proper delivery of trays.
• Delivers patient in-between meal feeding at 8:00 PM. ensuring that all items are accurate and maintain quality standards.
• Assembles and delivers late trays to patients within 30 minutes of receiving menu.
• Delivers early trays to patient rooms on a timely basis.
• Maintains effective and efficient communication with all personnel and patients to ensure the smooth operation of the kitchen.
• Maintains patient nourishment areas and kitchens stock to meet the patients nutritional needs.
• Accurately inventories, cleans, rotates stock and discards out-dated items, restocks and wipes out refrigerators, records temperatures to ensure sanitation standards.
• Completes all dish-room functions accurately and in a timely way to ensure the proper sanitation of all dishes.
• Completes all functions in the dish-room to ensure that all dishes are washed by 10:30 AM, 3:00 PM, and 7:00 PM.
• Follows established sanitation guidelines to ensure a clean and safe work environment.
• Adheres to sanitation guidelines to prevent food borne illness and possible spread of infection.
• Maintains a CLEAN AS YOU GO policy using prescribed methods as demonstrated by a clean and neat work area.
• Uses proper hand washing techniques.
• Covers labels and dates food in the appropriate containers.
• Utilizes and stores cleaning agents properly.
• Attends all employee meetings and in-services as scheduled by the supervisor.

Responsibilities/Non-Essential Functions:

• Appropriate dishes, bowls, cups, and utensils are used for serving food to ensure attractiveness and correct portion sizes.
• Station is refilled with food or beverages as necessary in a quick and accurate fashion.
• Coffee and iced tea is brewed according to standards and served in appropriate mugs.
• Bring questions referring to diets to tray-line management for resolution.
• Collects patient food trays and places trays on the truck no later than 60 minutes after service.
• Notifies supervisor of all requests made by nursing or patients or calling the diet office.
• Refers all patients questions to appropriate personnel.
• Informs supervisors of problems that arise either by notifying supervisor during meal rounds or by calling the diet office.
• Washes and dries all food trucks after every meal to ensure proper sanitation.
• Reports all unsafe conditions and improper articles on patient trays (such as needles, glasses, etc.) to supervisor immediately for appropriate disposal.
• Ensures that all paper items, straws, plastic are removed from the dishes and trays prior to loading into the dish-machine.
• Station is cleaned and wiped down after each meal.
• Station (i.e. steam-tables, milk-box, belt-line area) is turned off, drained, wiped down, and sanitized after dinner meal.
• Empties lowerators and equipment is pushed into the dish-room.
• Utensils are rinsed off and put in the pot-sink in the pot-room.
• Maintains clean and sanitary equipment/utensils using prescribed cleaning methods following all sanitation checklists.

Reporting Requirements:

• Reports any questions referring to diets to tray-line management for resolution.
• Notifies nursing of all HOLDS and isolation trays and passes them if appropriate.
• Notifies supervisor of all requests made by nursing or patients by referring or calling to diet office.
• Informs supervisor of any problems that arise either by notifying supervisors during meal rounds or by calling diet office.
• Reports all unsafe conditions and improper articles on patient trays.

Accountability:

• Shall be accountable for maintaining all tray-line standards to ensure that patient trays are accurate, timely, and of good quality.
• Shall be accountable for observing hospital policies and procedures.
• Shall be accountable for proper patient identification by asking patients name and checking ID bracelet.
• Shall be accountable for observing all policies and procedures of the department including Safety and Sanitation Infection Control and Fire Safety.

Qualifications:

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• EDUCATION: High school diploma or GED is preferred.
• EXPERIENCE: Preferred: minimum of two years experience in food service/customer service environment. Patient feeding experience with all age groups and diet experience preferred.
• KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS: Must possess knowledge of basic principles of nutrition, diets, recipes, food preparation, and service. Must be able to read, write, and communicate fluently in English. Ability to interact and communicate with patients, medical staff, dietary staff and able to follow accurately diet orders. Must demonstrate effective interpersonal and communication skills with a background in customer or patient service. Must be able to follow the standards of federal, state, and local regulatory agencies and JCAHO requirements for sanitation, food preparation, and handling. Must be able to lift up to 40lbs and transport the meal cart to unit floors for meal service without assistance. Must have sufficient dexterity to handle food and equipment efficiently and safely. Position requires incumbent to walk and stand 95% of the time while engaged in job routine activities. Incumbents must satisfy the Fit Test Requirements for using the N95 Respirator Mask.
• Training: On going training in-services required