Dietary Aide (Sat & Sun)

Dietary Aide (Saturday & Sunday)

The Dietary Aide assembles, customizes, and delivers patient meal trays, supports menu selection, and maintains a clean and well-organized food service operation within a hospital setting on weekends. This role ensures that patients receive accurate meals according to diet orders, provides courteous hospitality service, and assists with food preparation, tray-line operations, and basic clerical tasks related to patient food service.

Responsibilities

• Assemble tray carts of patient lunch and dinner meal trays for patient care units using patient selections and diet orders in a refrigerated environment prior to re-thermalization.
• Customize patient meal trays by adding requested drinks, desserts, rolls, and other items before delivering them to patient care units.
• Set up patient food service stations on the tray-line for breakfast according to tally sheets or established par levels and assist in assembling patient breakfast trays.
• Deliver meal trays and snacks to patients on assigned units, replacing missing items and offering alternative selections for patients on regular diets, while coordinating with the Hospitality Service Office for patients on restricted diets.
• Refill hot beverages and condiments from the hospitality cart and ensure patients have appropriate accompaniments with their meals.
• Inform unit nursing staff of refused trays, missing trays that have been called for, or patients who were not in their room at the time of delivery.
• Document food and liquid intake for selected patients according to established procedures.
• Retrieve meal trays from patient rooms and unit kitchens, ensuring that no personal items remain on the trays.
• Strip food carts and breakfast trays, sort and rinse dishes and silverware, and assist in washing breakfast dishes and trays.
• Deliver menus to patients on assigned units, explain the menu process, and assist patients in completing their menu selections.
• Ensure proper condiments are noted for each patients menu selections and recommend or offer alternative selections when patients do not choose from the standard menu.
• Ensure every patient on the assigned unit has been contacted by completing the host round sheet and return completed menus and host round sheets to the Hospitality Service Office.
• Check with the Hospitality Service Office for new admissions or diet changes for assigned units, deliver new menus and diet awareness cards to patients, and return completed menus to the office.
• Complete requests for and deliver NOW trays/meals, discharged trays, guest trays, and isolation trays, obtaining appropriate unit nursing staff sign-off before delivery.
• Inventory and stock the hospitality cart and/or hospitality basket and deliver bulk nourishments to units as requested.
• Provide clerical support to the Hospitality Service Office, including answering telephones and following up on requests and issues communicated by the unit-based hospitality team.
• Produce standard computer reports such as meal tallies, diet orders, nourishment labels, patient meal tray tickets, and patient menus using the computer system.
• Enter patient meal selections and special food preferences into the computer system, including those for patients on therapeutic diets.
• Attend departmental in-services and assist with training activities as needed.

Essential Skills

• Experience in foodservice or food preparation in a commercial or institutional setting.
• Ability to assemble and customize meal trays accurately according to diet orders and patient selections.
• Basic cooking, prep cook, line cook, or food prep experience sufficient to support a hospital kitchen operation.
• Strong attention to detail to ensure correct diets, portions, condiments, and special preferences are followed.
• Capability to use a computer system to enter patient selections and generate reports, labels, and tray tickets.
• Effective communication skills to interact with patients, nursing staff, and hospitality service personnel in a courteous and professional manner.
• Ability to document food and liquid intake accurately for selected patients.
• Physical ability to stand for extended periods, push and maneuver tray carts, and lift or carry food items and supplies.
• Ability to follow established procedures for sanitation, safety, and infection control in a hospital kitchen environment.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Previous experience in a hospital, healthcare, or hospitality food service environment.
• Familiarity with therapeutic diets and restricted diet requirements.
• Comfort assisting patients with menu completion and explaining menu processes.
• Experience handling multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment, including tray delivery, retrieval, and cleaning.
• Willingness to attend and participate in departmental in-services and ongoing training.
• Strong customer service orientation with a focus on patient satisfaction and hospitality.

Why Work Here?

You will join a mission-driven environment where your daily work directly supports patient comfort and care. The role offers consistent weekend hours and the opportunity to build hands-on experience in healthcare food service while working with a supportive, team-focused group of colleagues. You will have access to structured procedures, training through departmental in-services, and the chance to develop both hospitality and clinical-support skills in a professional setting.

Work Environment

This position is based in a hospital kitchen and patient care units, working primarily on Saturdays and Sundays from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. You will work in a refrigerated environment when assembling trays prior to re-thermalization and in warm areas near food preparation and dishwashing equipment. The role involves frequent walking between the kitchen and patient rooms, pushing and maneuvering tray carts, and handling hot beverages, dishes, and cleaning tasks. You will use computer systems for menu management and reporting, and follow strict sanitation, safety, and infection control standards appropriate for a healthcare facility. Attire should be appropriate for a hospital kitchen setting, supporting cleanliness, safety, and professionalism.

Job Type & Location

This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Washington, DC.

Pay and Benefits

The pay range for this position is $18.00 - $18.00/hr.

Individual compensation offered for this position within this range will depend on many factors, including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors.

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following: Medical, dental & vision Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital 401(k) Retirement Plan Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents) Short and long-term disability Health Spending Account (HSA) Transportation benefits Employee Assistance Program Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

Application Deadline

This position is anticipated to close on Nov 4, 2026.

Workplace Type

This is a fully onsite position in Washington,DC.