Pediatric Nutritionist and Fitness, Nutrition & Wellness Case Manager bei UPHAMS CORNER HEALTH CENTER

Description

Position Title:         Pediatric Nutritionist and Fitness, Nutrition & Wellness Case Manager
Department:           Nutrition
Supervisor:            Senior Nutritionist
Hours per week:    Up to 20 hrs (with at least one evening with flexibility for more evenings if desired)

Primary Function:
Direct and manage the Healthy in the City (HIC) Grant in coordination with Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) and provide direct patient care to pediatric patients to meet the requirements of the grant and needs of the pediatric population.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Direct Patient Care:
•    Under the general clinical supervision of the Senior Nutritionist, provide, plan, direct and perform individual counseling in therapeutic and normal nutrition practices via in-person and virtual (phone and video) visits.
•    Promote healthy lifestyle habits for patients at every size.
•    Focus 75% of direct patient care to families who meet Healthy in the City (HIC) criteria (see below for more information):
o    Patient has BMI/age > 85th%ile.
o    Patient has a BMI/age that is increasing rapidly (crossing more than one BMI/age curve).
o    Patient or family are experiencing food insecurity.
o    Provide care with attention to preventing, detecting and treating eating disorders. Refer to more specialized treatment when necessary.
•    Other care may support patients with diagnoses such as elevated A1C, lipids or blood pressure; picky eating; constipation; poor appetite; at risk of or having eating disorders or disordered eating or more.
•    Provide culturally sensitive, actionable, and patient-focused nutrition and lifestyle counseling considering:
o    Cultural food history, food access and affordability.
o    Research based nutrition and lifestyle recommendations.
o    Readiness to change, nutrition education, and behavior change tools and psychological techniques.
•    Adapt or develop educational materials, recipes and budgets to the cultural and ethnic preferences of patients, ensuring translation of materials into appropriate languages.
•    Enter notes in the EMR in a timely and accurate fashion, with attention to billing/coding.
•    Work with clinical teams, including MAs, nurses and providers to ensure comprehensive care when needed.
•    Recommend referral to higher levels of care where indicated.

Group Nutrition Education:
•    In accordance with grant requirements, or as appropriate for patient care, plan and conduct group sessions, including, but not limited to:
o    Cooking classes.
o    Gardening classes.
o    Content specific topics (e.g., how to shop on a budget).
o    Physical activity in the community, summer camp registration and more. 
•    Consider collaboration with other departments and community organizations, including behavioral health department, Bird Street Community Center, WIC, local schools, other community health centers (e.g., Bowdoin Street) and others.
•    In partnership with Senior Nutritionist, provide in-service education to clinic staff on nutrition and behavior change. As needed, make educational materials available. 
•    May contribute to internal newsletter with information and ideas about food, food preparation, recipes or more.

Color Team Based Care:
•    Work closely with Pediatric and Family Medicine providers to:
o    Receive warm hand-offs (or live referrals) from providers in person, by phone or EMR chat message.
o    See patients who meet above criteria and are ready to engage in behavior change for diet and lifestyle.  
o    Provide timely case management and follow-up care as specified by the grant and NFW Case Manager’s clinical judgement.
o    Follow-up with providers in-person, or via EMR about progress of patients, and clinical questions.

•    Work with Practice Secretaries to ensure:
o    Referral queue is being managed, and patient appointment are scheduled and closed appropriately.
o    Patients are scheduled for follow-up appointments.

Grant Management:
•    Manage the Healthy in the City (HIC) grant funded by Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH).
•    Work with and oversee any Support Staff who assist in case management, data entry and program support.
•    Prepare quarterly, semiannual and annual reports for submission to BCH. 
•    Annually, and ongoing, consider opportunities to improve and develop the program to provide more access to healthy nutrition and lifestyle opportunities for patients and the community.
•    Prepare annual grant application with assistance from Senior Nutritionist and Grants Coordinator.

Grant Execution:
•    Complete enrollment and engagement for Healthy in the City/Fitness in the City (HIC/FIC) participants according to grant requirements.
•    Provide or connect HIC/FIC participants with nutrition and physical activity opportunities at the clinic or in their community. 

Other:
•    Maintain up to date professional knowledge and meet continuing education requirements required for registration and licensure.
•    Participate in professional and administrative meetings as appropriate or as directed by Senior Nutritionist.
•    Perform other related duties as required.
 

Qualifications

Minimum Basic Knowledge:    

•    B.S. in community nutrition, food science, human nutrition or public health nutrition.

Required Credentialing:    

•    Registered Dietitian preferred, credentialed by Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) or RD eligible within 6 months of hire. 
•    Licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Health Professions Licensure (LDN).

Experience & Qualifications:    

•    One or more years of community experience with sensitivity to client population.
•    Ideal candidate has clinical and counseling experience in a community setting.
•    Strong preference for speaking additional languages: Spanish or Cape Verdean Creole strongly preferred.

Independent Action:
•    Plan and initiate programs under supervision of Senior Nutritionist to ensure sound dietetics practice and UCC policy and procedures are being followed.

Supervisory Responsibility:
•    Supervise any HIC Support Staff.
•    May supervise students or interns.

Define Access Level to PHI:    Level 4 [Authorized to access full health information. UCC position and job responsibilities involve the provision of patient care and working as a clinical team member. Staff in this category level, although allowed full access, should only access the necessary information for each respective treatment encounter/circumstance].