Supervisory Dietitian - Tucson, AZ

PLEASE NOTE - This position may require temporarily relocation to other TONHC Facilities: Sells Hospital, Santa Rosa Health Center, San Simon Health Center, and San Xavier Health Center.

Position Summary

This position directs the Nutrition and Dietetic Services Department, located at the Tohono O'odham Nation Health Care (TONHC), Sells Hospital facility. The incumbent is responsible for ensuring high-quality Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) services and food production and food services for the community that it serves. The Supervisory Dietitian has technical, professional, and administrative responsibility for planning, developing, organizing, staffing, implementing, controlling, directing, and evaluating a functionally comprehensive Nutrition and Dietetic Services Department.

Scope of Work:

This position is located within the TONHC Sells Hospital and oversees the Nutrition and Dietetic Services department. The incumbent organizes and directs the activities of subordinate staff. The incumbent directs and performs the functions of planning food production and service, the nutrition clinics, patient MNT, staff development, and other required responsibilities within the Nutrition and Dietetic Services Department. The incumbent coordinates the department's services and activities with those of other departments within the hospital; provides advice and technical expertise concerning food- and nutrition-related topics to staff and community agencies/organizations. The Supervisory Dietitian is under the supervision of the Division of Professional Services Director.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: ( Depending on the area of assignment, an incumbent may not be required to perform some of the duties listed below):

• Establishes organizational structure and guidelines, performance standards, and reporting requirements and defines the lines of authority essential in carrying out the department's mission and the TONHC.
• Provides leadership and guidance to ensure close coordination of the staff's diverse activities to integrate the department effectively.
• Oversee the coordination of policies and procedures for the nutrition care of patients. Assures that all policies and procedures comply with professional guidelines, The Joint Commission (TJC) standards, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and other regulatory agencies.
• Assures that the menu planning, food purchases, and food production and handling practices will deliver safe, high quality, and nutritionally adequate meals. Provide final approval of food standards and the menu cycle.
• Facilitates the development of service priorities that address the Nutrition and Dietetic Services Department's goals and objectives and the TONHC. Coordinates activities to accomplish these identified priorities.
• Develops and monitors staff productivity to maximize staff performance and efficiency within the department.
• Develops and implements staffing and position management goals that will support high-quality food service and MNT services and promote effective workforce utilization.
• Develops and administers a budget for the department that effectively utilizes available financial resources, adequate monetary controls, and budget estimates based on accurate and applicable data. Plans and justifies an annual budget for subsistence, food procurement, supplies, equipment, staff training, and equipment repairs.
• Seeks and evaluates opportunities to reduce operating costs without jeopardizing the food quality or the nutritional care provided to patients, including oral and enteral nutrition products.
• Develops and directs a performance improvement program to continually monitor major functions of the Nutrition and Dietetic Services Department for quality and appropriateness of nutritional care. Assures that the performance improvement program and activities comply with applicable standards established by HACCP, CMS, TJC, and other reviewing agencies.
• Modifies the MNT program and other areas that encompass the Nutrition and Dietetic Services Department to accommodate changes associated with science, education, and research. Assures nutrition-related activities are coordinated with other initiatives at a local and national level to provide for a quality nutrition program.
• Assures that new information/nutritional advancements are incorporated into daily practices and procedures that ensure continuous improvement in services.
• Provides leadership to the Nutrition and Dietetic Services Department staff, consisting of two Dietitians, a Dietetic Technician, a Cook Supervisor, and six Cooks. Provides direction and presents conclusions and recommendations to the team at departmental meetings.
• Directs personnel management by making decisions on personnel actions, including selections, performance awards, and recommendations for adverse actions. Reviews cases, documents and takes disciplinary action for employees with poor performance or conduct issues.
• Promotes positive relations by listening to employee grievances and complaints not resolved at a lower level. Respond to EEO complaints.
• Assign work to subordinates based on priorities, employee's job description, and competency level.
• Delegates responsibility and authority to the Cook Supervisor and holds them responsible for the performance of their section. Guides the subordinate supervisor on problem-solving, decision making, delegation, change management, confrontation management, and performance improvement management.
• Review attendance records of employees to ensure a balanced workforce and maintain or improve attendance, including approving leave requests of subordinates if applicable.
• Complete evaluations of subordinates and reviews the supervisors' evaluations made on supervised employees.
• Assures that available funds for staff training and effectively utilize continuing education for the department's benefit and the full development of the staff.
• Recommend training to improve the workforce's efficiency and increase workforce utilization using personal observation and discussions with employees.
• Serves as a mentor for the Nutrition and Dietetic Services Department staff, using management techniques to promote personal and professional growth and development.
• Assures that professional staff is competent to perform their assigned duties and keep abreast of advanced technologies and changes in nutrition therapy. Ensures that the team is confident in their expertise to serve as the food and nutrition expert for other healthcare professionals and the community.
• Coordinates the education and training in the department for all levels of employees, including planning and implementing training for new employees and meeting the needs of all levels of employees to ensure all are competent. Establishes a mechanism to monitor the effectiveness of the department's training programs.
• Supports employee development by encouraging participation in promotional activities, acquiring experience in specialty areas, and board certification.
• Performs the duties of subordinate dietitians and provides MNT coverage for subordinates when needed.
• Respond to nutrition consults from Inpatient Providers and conducts nutrition assessments, intervention, education, and monitoring of the inpatients. Counsels patients and their families on nutritional principles, dietary plans, diet modifications, and food selection/preparation practices-plan for outpatient nutrition follow-up services by recommending and making referrals upon patient discharge.
• Develops and implements nutrition care protocols using principles of evidence-based practice to establish and improve nutrition care guidelines.
• Keep abreast of current scientific, technological, theoretical, and treatment modality changes, as well as management theory relating to the provision of nutrition care.
• Participate as a member on interdisciplinary committees and special projects and activities for the hospital. Participate in inpatient team rounds and other hospital meetings.
• Participates in the planning of all new construction and modernization projects that impact the nutritional care of patients and commercial feeding of employees and visitors.
• Establishes and maintains cooperative relationships with tribal programs and other agencies or groups that serve the Tohono O'odham Nation. Provide consultation for nutrition-related activities and program development.
• Function as a professional and technical advisor to clinical staff, other allied healthcare professionals, and program managers throughout the TONHC system.
• Collaborates with other department managers/supervisors and other officials within the TONHC system to negotiate and make decisions on food and nutrition services that impact the health care of patients.
• Interprets and advises other services, programs, and top management concerning general agency guidelines that impact the Nutrition and Dietetic Services Department.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Professional knowledge of the principles, practices, and procedures of dietetics required to direct the department's activities, guide subordinates, and provide advice to hospital staff.
• Knowledge of the principles of management required to establish objectives and to control and coordinate activities.
• Knowledge of the medical functions of the hospital to coordinate activities.
• Knowledge and ability to manage a department, technically and administratively, and for providing direction to subordinates.
• Ability to interpret policies and to develop standards, guidelines, and procedures for nutrition and dietetic services. Ability to tailor operating procedures based on the hospital's requirements and patients' treatment types.
• Ability to plan and integrate all dietary functions for the hospital, including nutritional management of patients with various chronic medical problems, food service management functions, staff development, and management of the nutrition clinics.
• Knowledge and ability to perform long- and short-range planning for the Nutrition and Dietetic Services Department, and skill in resolving a wide variety of day-to-day operating problems, such as patients' nutritional needs, food delivery problems, food substitutions, and equipment breakdowns.
• Ability to interpret and evaluate data collected to administer the hospital's Nutrition and Dietetic Services program effectively.
• Knowledge of the principles and practices of the science of food and nutrition and its roots in basic science.
• Knowledge of the human body's utilization of food and nutrients to nourish the body's needs in states of health or disease throughout the lifecycle.
• Knowledge of the application of MNT as part of the Nutrition Care Process model for managing disease states and conditions, and understanding of the standardized language for the Nutrition Care Process.
• Knowledge of Native American tribes and cultural subgroups' eating and dietary habits and developing nutrition care plans to meet the nutritional needs of culturally acceptable foods.
• Knowledge of the nutritional needs and problems of Native American tribes ranging in age from infants to elders and from a spectrum of healthy patients to those ill with an array of diseases, most notably diabetes.
• Knowledge of training, educational principles, and techniques applicable to teaching nutrition to the patients served.
• Knowledge of foodservice principles includes safe handling and food preparation for consumption in homes, schools, day-care centers, senior feeding sites, and other sites or establishments where food is served.
• Knowledge of contract processes to include basic acquisition regulations negotiated procurement procedures, evaluation of bids and proposals, and procedures for payment.
• Skill in managing a culturally diverse department and fostering workplace relationships by setting clear expectations, practicing constant communication, and offering timely responses to both positive workplace behavior and employee issues or concerns.