JENNIFER A HOUSER
Dietetic Intern and Veggie Enthusiast
FOOD SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
ND 566
East Bay Post Acute Center is a 5 star Medicaid-rated 90 bed facility in Castro Valley, CA. It is both a long term care facility and a rehab center, housing both long term and short stay residents. The kitchen uses an outside company to provide cycle menus, recipes, production logs, and diet manual to which the kitchen follows for residents. Many of the residents are on therapeutic or texture altered diets including renal, carbohydrate controlled, no salt added, mechanical soft, puree and more.
During my time at this facility, I worked closely with the dietary manager and registered dietitian to create menus appropriate for residents, order food and supplies, conduct weekly inventory, and create a health promotion project for the facility. I also created a master schedule, sat in on evaluations, conducted an in-service and did several quality assurance projects. Throughout the 280 supervised practice hours I was able to utilize and strengthen skills that will allow me to become a successful manager and future registered dietitian.
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INTRODUCTION
Majority of the rotation was spent in the kitchen learning the inner workings of preparing food on a large scale. I placed weekly orders through vendors including Sysco, Berkeley Farms, and other local vendors. I implemented a Meatless Monday program to introduce more plant-based menu items into the facility. I conducted quality assurance programs to determine the productivity of the department, and learned how to manage resources, people and production in the kitchen. In addition, I worked with other department heads and managers to ensure the quality of food for the residents in the facility
ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Module 2
I strengthened my professional development by adding to my professional development portfolio. I attended the annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in Chicago, IL. I was able to network with other dietitians, interns, and attend lectures focused on leadership, medical nutrition therapy, supplements, and more. I also developed a Health Promotion Project and monitored the patient satisfaction results.
FOOD SAFETY & SANITATION
Module 3
I conducted audits to ensure the safety of the kitchen and sanitation procedures. These included kitchen safety audits, time and temperature studies and test tray evaluations. I also reviewed the MSDS and HACCP procedures for the facility, and conducted an in-service for all kitchen employees.
PRODUCTION AND SERVICE SYSTEMS
Module 5
I created an Asian-inspired theme meal, which I made standardized recipes, production logs, and a budget for. For this theme meal I did taste panel and sensory evaluations, and also modified the meal to be appropriate for therapeutic and texture modified diets. In addition, I did a complete menu analysis and modification for therapeutic diets and reviewed the facilities diet manual.
QUALITY MANAGEMENT & PRODUCTIVITY
Module 6
I attended several committee meetings including dining committee, daily stand-ups, and demtentia training. I also calculated the productivity of the department and shared with dietary manager. I completed a time and temperature study, and used the patient satisfaction results from the health promotion project to determine the success of the project.