Hospital Roomservice is Improving Nutritional Intake

Hospital food has been previously notorious for having a stigma of being unsatisfactory. This has been due to budget restraints of the hospital, the method of delivery, and the lack of choice. Hospitals across the nation are now utilizing room service. Brisbane, Australia, in 2013, was the first hospital to start this concept. A study was conducted to evaluate patient satisfaction, plate waste, patient meal costs, and nutritional intake of room service compared to traditional hospital foodservice. The results showed an increased nutritional intake, improved patient satisfaction, and reduced plate waste and patient meal costs with room service. This is just an example of how providing the patients choice of what they eat and when they eat can increase their perception of the food quality and increase the overall experience. When this is increased, it in return increases the amount of the food that is consumed, resulting in improved nutritional intake and less plate waste. When patients are eating more of their meals, they have a greater chance of healing. This is one of the basic goals of a dietitian in the clinical setting, to get the patients to eat for better health outcomes. Energy and protein intake are essential, and we do not want to overuse nutritional supplements because the patients refuse to eat the food that is available to them.

It may take some time to implement in a hospital setting that has been using the traditional foodservice model for so many years, but in the end it is a worthy investment and will improve the health of the patients and reduce the stigma of hospital foodservice.
LG

Mccray, S., Maunder, K., Krikowa, R., & Mackenzie-Shalders, K. (2018). Room service improves nutritional intake and increases patient satisfaction while decreasing food waste and cost. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,118(2), 284-293. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2017.05.014