The Evolution of Patient Dining
APPETIZING. HEALTHY. SUSTAINABLE. DELICIOUS. EXCITING.
In the past, these were not among the words patients used to describe their hospital dining experiences. But today many of them do. What’s changed between then & now?
Three big trends are reshaping patient dining.
Big Trend One
Tech Lifestyle
Today, technology impacts every aspect of people’s modern lives. When they are in the hospital, they expect their lives to still be tech-centered.
Big Trend Two
Foodie Culture
Food preferences are rapidly changing toward wide-ranging options — healthier, sustainable, plant-centered, gluten-free — but patients also crave the comfort foods they grew up with. Patients expect the same options when they’re in the hospital.
Big Trend Three
Patient Satisfaction
Today’s hospitals are focused on patient satisfaction like never before because so much depends on their high-quality experiences — from reputation to reimbursements.
What do these trends mean for healthcare?
It means it’s time to leave the past behind and embrace the future of patient dining.
Consider these stats:
Don't Stay Stuck in the Past on Patient Dining Satisfaction:
Review these topics to discover whether you’re on track to deliver excellent patient dining experiences or at risk of staying stuck in the past.
Meal Offerings
It used to be that patients had limited dining options. Today’s successful hospital dining programs offer patients a full-service restaurant approach where they can enjoy a vast selection of specialty food items that meet their dietary and personal preferences.
Meal Offering Discoveries
What Patients Are Used To
- Fixed homestyle meals with limited options
- Bland meals with no flavor
- Food items that lack chef/restaurant inspiration and flair
- Dull menu presentation
What Patients Want
- Flavorful meals that meet their desire for trend-forward food options
- Menus that reflect restaurant quality and variety
- Chef-inspired menus
Changing the Future
- Fresh ingredients
- Ethnic dishes
- A variety of options to meet specialty diet restrictions
Patient Experience Benefits — The full-service restaurant model of patient food service satisfies a patient's desire for flavorful, fresh meals. Because patients enjoy the food, it improves nutritional intake over traditional models. Plus, providing patients a range of dining options with clear notification of allergen and nutritional information greatly increases overall wellness and satisfaction and shortens lengths of stay.
Meal Ordering
Gone are the days of paper menus on which patients, with pencil in hand, would “check” their menu choices from a limited list of options. Today's innovative hospital dining programs employ technology enabled devices that deliver personalized meal selection.
The use of Interactive Patient Care Systems technology for in-room meal ordering gives patrons complete control over their meal ordering experience. Common feedback includes a sense of patron empowerment, which is a proven satisfier.
— Computrition FoodService Software Solutions
Meal Ordering Discoveries
What Patients Are Used To
- Limited, standardized options
- Paper and pencil meal selection process
- Required ordering a day or two in advance
What Patients Want
- Customized meal ordering
- Meal selection using available technology
Changing the Future
- Provide hotel-inspired room service meal ordering processes
- On-demand meal options
- Web-based, in-room and mobile meal ordering applications
- Preferred diet ordering interface with medical records system for dietary restrictions, allergies, and patient preferences
Patient Experience Benefits — Allowing patients to order their meals the way they are used to — via technology — provides a level of comfort and control that significantly elevates their satisfaction rating. Plus, on-demand ordering systems optimize meal freshness for patients and minimizes food waste.
Meal Delivery
It used to be that food was delivered to patients lukewarm. Today’s successful hospital dining programs are using innovations that bring food to the patient's bedside properly heated and cooled, looking delicious and inviting.
Room service model of patient food delivery improves nutritional intake by 17%
— CBORD GROUP
Meal Delivery Discoveries
What Patients Are Used To
- Hot food is delivered cold
- Cold food is delivered lukewarm
- Traditional cook-serve pellet meal delivery systems
- Poor individual tray presentation
- Fixed meal delivery time periods
What Patients Want
- Quality food delivered at the proper temperatures
- Meals cooked to order and delivered when they want to eat
- Control over decisions
Changing the Future
- Restaurant-style tableware and settings
- State-of-the-art meal delivery systems
Patient Experience Benefits — How food is delivered has a major impact on both its real and perceived quality. Poor food quality leads in one direction: low patient satisfaction scores. Conversely, when food quality is high, including correct food temperatures, patient satisfaction scores soar. That’s why more hospitals are moving to innovative meal delivery systems that enhance their ability to provide patients with high quality, upscale and impressive meals.
Meal Feedback
In the past, patients were rarely asked about their in-hospital dining experience. If they did comment, their opinions were barely registered. Today’s innovative hospital dining programs are proactive in asking patients for feedback on their dining experiences and in responding to the results.
Meal Feedback Discoveries
What Patients Are Used To
- Rarely asked for their feedback on hospital dining experience
- If unsolicited feedback is provided, it typically gets lost in the shuffle
What Patients Want
- To be heard—complaints or congratulations to individuals for their hospital dining experience
- Immediate changes that improve their dining experience
Changing the Future
- Technology-enabled patient feedback systems that allow food service teams to request feedback in person and record responses into a mobile app
- Act on patient feedback promptly to improve food service delivery
Patient Experience Benefits — When patients are asked about their satisfaction with dining, are listened to about their likes and dislikes, and immediate action is taken to correct what they don’t like, their overall experience improves. As a result, they are happy to give organizations higher scores.
Fresh Takes on Meals
Offerings
- Plant-based options alongside meat-based counterparts
- Ethnic cuisine, comfort foods and wholesome selections
- Dishes prepared with the freshest ingredients using garden-fresh, local ingredients
- Made-to-order options, including omelets, pasta, sandwiches, pizza, Bento Boxes, salads and more
Ordering
- Give patients access to a room service call center any time based on their hunger, treatment schedules and usual home meal routine
- Deploy a self-service meal ordering system using mobile-device ordering
Delivery
- Let nutrition assistants deliver meals so they can personally interact with patients, families and the nursing staff while controlling the entire meal delivery process
- Free up nursing staff to focus on patient care instead of meal service issues
Feedback
- Resolve patients’ issues with food and facilities before they voice their concerns to nurses, so nurses can stay focused on patients’ medical care.
- Remove the manual process of collecting and reviewing patient satisfaction forms from frontline managers, so they have more time to spend on patient care programs versus shuffling paperwork
Are You Ready for the Future of Patient Dining?
Are you ready to put the old dining service ways behind you and move into today’s modern, tech-supported patient dining world where you can significantly boost patients’ experiences and satisfaction scores?
We are here to serve your unique needs
Contact us today. You have a lot to gain.
