More and more hospitals are putting together health resources into their cafeterias and campuses to offer healthy options to patients, workers, visitors, and guests. Regardless of it being hospital-operated or outsourced to food service providers on contract, hospitals are reporting healthy food improvements are associated with higher patient and employee satisfaction.
Healthy hospital advocates have a hunch that this setting is especially powerful for bringing about extraordinary changes in chronic diseases and setting an example for personnel wellness due to the fact that there are more than 5,000 registered hospitals in the United States. Over 36,000,000 patients were hospitalized in the United States in 2010; the majority of people received dietary guidance or suffer from a diet-related chronic disease. Hospitals also hires over 5 million people in the United States, including employees in food service and maintenance who are more likely at risk of getting chronic disease as a result of diet. Approximately 48 percent of hospitals provide on-demand room service for patients, according to a survey of 184 providers by Food Service Director Magazine. In addition, approximately 67 percent of facilities with a food and beverage budget over $5 million reported using room service.
Introducing food services with technology has its benefits in that hospitals are reducing waste as well as improving patient satisfaction.There has been an increase in hospitals becoming more tech-oriented with their food service systems. The change reflects the broader efforts by hospitals to cut costs and inefficiencies while improving patient satisfaction and the quality of care. Technology is also playing a vital role with health systems standardizing meal choices across their networks, support on-demand room service and to set up analytics for the reduction of food waste.
The following are the food innovations that are taking place in healthy hospital cafeteria and campus initiatives:
- Expansion in quantity, quality, and a variation of fresh fruits and vegetables
- Updating healthy vending choices and labeling
- More cafeterias giving accurate nutritional content data during purchasing
- Expanding restaurant-style, already-cooked items for patients and cafeteria visitors
- More kitchens are providing foods containing zero trans fat, reduced saturated fats, and other healthy fats
A very good example of hospitals using the food service technology system is Shore Medical Center in Somer Point, NJ. This facility used paper menus for the deliverance of food meals to patients. Using paper menus caused unnecessary food waste; as a result, patient satisfaction plummeted. Some patients received food they didn’t want due to items being removed from their order and replaced with substitutions to follow dietary restrictions and allergies. On many occasions, trays were delivered when patients were away from their room; if the patient had ordered a hot meal the food would end up becoming cold and tossed out.
The 198-bed hospital introduced MyDine, a food service provider Unidine that links information on patients’ dietary restrictions and allergies. This is entered and stored into the patients' electronic health records using the tablet. This is used by guest service representatives. They interact with patients on a one-on-one basis to talk about menu choices which will reflect their diet; simultaneously, making sure patients are ordering what they want and when they want it. The tablets updates every 30 seconds, along with dietary changes made in the patient’s EHR, or electronic health record, so the representatives discuss only the menu items the patient is only allowed to have.
Healthy hospital advocates have confidence that investing in hospital wellness will aid in the reduction of healthcare cost, improve employee productivity, reduce absenteeism, and enhance patient satisfaction and experience as well as health outcomes. This is a very great idea that food service technology for hospital settings are working because of the rising cost of healthcare and more people are conscious about their health.