Key facilitators and best practices of hotel-style room service in hospitals.
This qualitative study sought to identify the features, advantages, and disadvantages of hotel-style room service; the barriers to, and facilitators for, implementing the process; and "best practices." The study took place in four heterogeneous hospitals. Participants included hospital administrators, managers, and room-service employees. Data-collection methods included semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis. Common features of hotel-style room service were meal delivery within 30 to 45 minutes, a restaurant-style menu, procedures to feed ineligible patients, tray assembly on demand, scripting, and waitstaff uniforms for room-service employees. The major barrier to implementing room service was obtaining nursing support. The key facilitators were the hospital's service-oriented culture, using a multidisciplinary planning team, engaging nursing departments early in the planning stages, and intense customer-service training of room-service employees. The overwhelming advantage was patients' control over their food choices. The main disadvantage was cost. Initial best practices in hotel-style room service include: (a) taking a multidisciplinary team approach for developing and implementing the process, (b) customer-service training, (c) using a customer-driven menu, (d) wearing waitstaff uniforms, and (e) using carts with airpots for dispensing hot beverages.
Sheehan-Smith
Lisa
L
Department of Human Sciences, Middle Tennessee State University, 2623 Middle Tennessee Blvd, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D019985:Benchmarking; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004046:Dietetics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005521:Food Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D006750:Hospital Distribution Systems / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D015285:Hospital-Patient Relations; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008612:Menu Planning; D008875:Middle Aged; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018579:Patient Selection; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States