Does your facility have horrible dietary staff turnover?

[nervousnurse, ASN]

It's so sad---our dietary staff turnover is HORRENDOUS! Then there are some days the meals look just HORRIBLE and/or are VERY late! I feel so bad for the residents for some of the meals; here they are paying so much to live there, and SOME (NOT all!) of the meals or certain parts of the meals look very unappetizing it breaks my heart to serve it to them.....what about where you work?

[ktwlpn, LPN]

We have a lot of the same staff who have been there for years and they do the best they can. The kitchen is antiquated and the admin has the dept on a crippling budget. Guess what? No one is starving . Most days the meals are delivered close to the target times (we have 15 units-it's a logistical marvel that they can get it done)

[ricksy]

Same at my facility. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The other day I had a resident come back from wound clinic with new dietary order to decrease fats and increase protein. I did the work on my end and filled out the dietary slip and delivered it to them. We have a corporate that makes the menus. When I handed it over to her she said" what does that mean." I give up on the whole deal.........Today was ham sandwich on bread.....wow, that is creative. I give up

[Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN]

Not at all.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I worked at a particularly bad nursing home up until about three years ago.

Anyhow, sometimes the dietary staff didn't show up in the morning to prepare breakfast, so the administrator would have to come to the facility early with the key to the kitchen and pull a couple of CNAs from the floor to quickly make some meal trays for the residents.

Dietary staff members at other facilities sometimes like to argue to death, as if the food belongs to them.

[ktwlpn, LPN]

Years ago during a budget crisis an item started showing up on the menu that I had never heard of-it was called "broccoli cuts" .It truly was the cut up stems-the part that I throw away (or save for soup) No florets,just cut up stems. What a disgrace! The residents complained to the dept. of health during the survey and they disappeared.

[nervousnurse, ASN]

ktwlpn....that's sad! Ricksy....we recently had a new resident someone on a "hepatic diet" and one on another special kind I can't remember now. The dietary staff was asking how to do this. I assume the manager needs to call our R.D. with questions? I have no idea, I'm just speculating?

I had a resident the other day whose tray was taken away TOO EARLY by a dietary person who was in a hurry. (I didn't know this until later). He now wanted a bowl of oatmeal....I nicely asked a new employee who stated "breakfast is OVER!"......I did NOT have time to argue or even ask if I could make it myself, so she resentfully gave me some cornflakes and milk......I planned to tell our admin. about it later, but again---I had WAY more things going on than to try to get this sweet man a bowl of oatmeal and we are not allowed in the kitchen anyway.

Later that day she walked out in the middle of cooking lunch.....lovely! Next morning, there was our administrator cooking breakfast and lunch. I don't know HOW our Admin. and our D.O.N. handle the stress of this job. We've had TWO new CMA's quit with no notice recently, and a few CNAs who leave in the middle of the shift...poor residents!!!!