Organization Overview, Mission, Vision, and Values
Our mission is to improve the health of people in the communities we serve through compassionate, high-quality care, prevention, and wellness education. Washington Regional Medical System is a community-owned, locally governed, non-profit health care system located in Northwest Arkansas in the heart of Fayetteville, which is consistently ranked among the Best Places to live in the country. Our 425-bed medical center has been named the #1 hospital in Arkansas for five consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. We employ 3,400+ team members and serve the region with over 40 clinic locations, the region’s only Level II trauma center, and five Centers of Excellence - the Washington Regional J.B. Hunt Transport Services Neuroscience Institute; Washington Regional Walker Heart Institute; Washington Regional Women and Infants Center; Washington Regional Total Joint Center; and Washington Regional Pat Walker Center for Seniors.
Position Summary
The role of the Clinical Nutrition Manager reports to the Nutrition Services Director. This position provides oversight for overseeing nutritional care, managing dietitians and technicians, developing nutrition policies, ensuring regulatory compliance, and collaborating with healthcare teams to provide comprehensive patient care. This position participates in budget development and management. This position is responsible for leading staff, maintaining quality standards within nutrition services and remains knowledgeable and current with nutrition updates to improve patient outcomes and meet health standards.
Essential Position Responsibilities
- Direct the nutrition care process, including patient assessment, care plan development, intervention, monitoring, and evaluation for patients with complex medical needs.
- Develop, implement, and evaluate policies and procedures for nutritional care and food service operations to ensure they align with best practices and regulatory standards.
- Maintain culture of safety through staff development, engaged leadership, and change management.
- Analyze nutrition-related data and outcomes to drive program development, identify areas for improvement, and maintain a high standard of care.
- Collaborate and engage with physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to integrate nutrition care into the overall patient treatment plan.
- Manage departmental budgets, ensure appropriate staff, space, equipment, and supplies for nutrition services, and handle employee relations issues for department.
- Provide workforce management leadership for department through hiring, training, and supervising clinical dietitians and technicians, conduct performance evaluations, and provide ongoing education and professional development to the team.
- Develop education and training programs to support staff development.
- Conduct training sessions or in-services to ensure staff remain up-to-date and know how to provide nutrition education to patients and families.
- Promote an engaged and respectful work environment.
Qualifications
- Education: Graduate of an accredited dietetics program
- Licensure and Certifications: Registered Dietitian with the Commission of Dietetic Registration (CDR) and Arkansas Dietetic license
- Experience: Minimum of 3 years experience in a clinical nutrition role, required. Strong leadership, interpersonal, and effective communication skills are essential for managing a team and collaborating with diverse healthcare professionals. Must possess a deep understanding of nutrition science, clinical assessment, and meal planning for various medical conditions. Must have the ability to analyze situations, solve problems, and adapt to new challenges in patient care and departmental operations.
Work Environment: This position will spend 60% of time sitting while performing work in a standard office environment and 40% of time standing and/or walking while pushing, pulling, lifting, and/or carrying up to 50 lbs.
Notice: This job description is designed to provide an overview of the essential and principal duties and responsibilities of the position. The job description is not designed or intended to cover or set forth a comprehensive listing of all activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Washington Regional reserves the right in its absolute discretion to change duties, responsibilities or activities or assign new duties, responsibilities, or activities at any time with or without notice. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description.
