Health Technician (Dietetic)

About the role

This position is located in the Nutrition and Food Service (NFS) of the VA Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. The primary purpose of the position is to provide administrative and customer service support for the VA hospital food service program.

Responsibilities

• Completes quality monitors to ensure food items/menu selections for regular and therapeutic diets are prepared and served appropriately (i.e. accuracy, timeliness, appearance, and temperature, dysphagia food testing).
• Ensures all food/supplies are covered, labeled, and dated.
• Stores, rotates and inventories stock items and disposes outdated food/beverages.
• Advises supervisor of any special orders or changes needed that may impact food production, including instances when substitutions are needed due to food preferences.
• Collaborates with Dietitians regarding food/drug interactions and notifies clinical staff of potential issues.
• Follows policies and procedures for patient feeding, including but not limited to missed patient meals, late tray requests, patient meal ordering, and adherence to prescribed therapeutic diet.
• Conducts meal rounds on units after tray delivery to ensure patient satisfaction and provides service recovery and meal corrections when needed.
• Triages calls from inpatient/outpatient clinics and procedure areas related to patient meal/nourishments.
• Assists patients in selection of the proper foods according to their individual diet.
• Takes appropriate action to maximize patient satisfaction with meal service.
• Answers questions and provides information about menu and food items.
• Conducts patient rounds to discuss menu available food items and ways to order meals.
• Enters meal orders into a computerized system.

Requirements

To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.

Qualifications

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

• Individual Occupational Requirement for GS 5: Specialized Experience - You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-4 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge of computerized medical records; Knowledge of tray assembly area procedures for set up, assembly, tray distribution and pick up and nourishment and tube feeding distribution; Ability to organize work, analyze data, and work under time constraints; Ability to understand Dietetics Software programs, computer keyboard, printers, and phone system; Ability to understand facility patient engagement platforms; Thorough knowledge and understanding of regular and all modified diets; Ability to assist with food selections and review appropriateness of menu selections for complex diets and diet combinations; Ability to follow oral and written instructions; Ability to interpret and apply written policy and procedures; Ability to process simple arithmetic.
• Education - Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, with major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to the position. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)
• Combination - Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond. For GS-5 level positions, only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirements. Two full academic years of study, or 60 semester hours, beyond the second year is equivalent to l year of specialized experience. Determine the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the year of specialized experience required at the GS-5 level. Then determine the applicant's education as a percentage of the education that meets the requirements for GS-5. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for GS-5. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)