title: Employee reactions to the introduction of a bulk food distribution system in a nursing home.
abstract: Decentralized bulk food distribution was implemented in a nursing home. Employees working with elderly residents with dementia were asked their opinion of the impact of the new system on residents and workload. A convenience sample of 24 employees (57% of the staff) completed a 31-item, self-administered Likert-scale questionnaire that allowed open-ended comments. Responses were subjected to descriptive quantitative analysis, and a qualitative approach was used to explore themes that emerged in comments. Qualitative analysis indicated that 52% of responses were negative in tone, 30% were positive, and 18% were neutral. Initially, three categories of comments emerged, with specific multiple themes related to the residents (41%), the employees (37%), or the food-service system (22%). Most comments in the employee category were negative, and suggested that the decentralized food-service system caused hardship for the staff. This problem was resolved by adding one staff-hour at the midday meal. One year later, an abbreviated repeat survey of 29 employees revealed adaptation and general acceptance of the system. Because a motivated patient care staff is essential to the successful feeding of nursing home residents with dementia, employees' concerns must be considered when operational changes are planned.
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche, Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal and Département de nutrition, Université de Montréal.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shatenstein
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ska
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferland
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005522:Food Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005523:Food Supply; D006707:Homes for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload