Dietary Aide Job Description
A dietary aide is a food-services employee who works in a medical setting. Essentially, dietary aides prepare food to meet the nutritional needs of patients and individuals who are living in medical and assisted living facilities. Typically, a dietary aide will spend their time planning residents’ meals and preparing them.
Dietary aides perform a variety of tasks to prepare food for their patients. They chop ingredients, grill foods, operate ovens, and place completed meals into containers that can be delivered. Most employers require their dietary aides to have a high school diploma or equivalent and may also be asked to obtain additional certifications in food handling and safety.
Dietary Aide Job Description Template
Our facility is looking for a skilled dietary aide to join our team. In this role, you will be responsible for supporting our dieticians as they work to provide patients and residents with high-quality meals. You may also be asked to help patients and residents discover the right eating plans and habits for goals like losing weight and lowering blood pressure.
In this position, you will spend the bulk of your time preparing and delivering food. You will also help us maintain the cleanliness of our kitchens and dining areas, as well as maintaining our kitchen’s stock of ingredients. To be successful as a dietary aide, you should have strong food preparation skills, an upbeat attitude, and a general knowledge of nutrition. Most importantly, you should always be compassionate and considerate towards our residents.
Dietary Aide Responsibilities:
- Review patients’ dietary needs and assist in developing meal plans that meet them
- Prepare food for residents’ consumption, including cutting, chopping, grilling, and cooking various ingredients
- Deliver completed meals to residents
- Clean up kitchens and dining areas
- Assist the team in maintaining proper kitchen inventory levels
Dietary Aide Requirements:
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Food handler’s license
- Associate’s degree in nutrition or a related field is preferred
- Ability to operate standard kitchen cookware
- Ability to follow directions and high attention to detail
- Strong communication skills and the ability to work as part of a team
- Compassionate attitude towards patients and residents
Dietary Aide FAQ
What tasks does a dietary aide do?
Dietary aides support nutritionists who work at medical facilities and assisted living centers. It’s the dietary aide’s job to prepare meals that meet patients’ healthcare needs. This means spending a lot of time preparing ingredients and cooking them. Dietary aides also deliver meals to patients and clean up both the facility’s kitchen and its dining areas. Dietary aides may also be asked to provide some general knowledge to residents who have specific questions about their diet.
Can I use your dietary aide job description template?
You can absolutely use our template as inspiration for your own. You can even copy most of it if that’s what you want to do. However, you should also make sure that you’re highlighting the most unique aspects of your position. Doing so will help you attract more qualified candidates and can ultimately lead to a better hiring outcome.
What should I include in my dietary aide help-wanted ads?
There’s no need to get fancy with the format of your dietary aide help-wanted ads. Instead, use the proven method we’ve outlined above. Start with general opening paragraphs that describe the job in broad terms. After that, you can move into two bulleted lists that highlight the responsibilities and requirements of the job, respectively. That being said, it’s always a good idea to start with the information that you anticipate your candidates will find most attractive about the role.
