Improvement in the quality of the catering service of a rehabilitation hospital.
BACKGROUND
Malnutrition due to undernutrition or overnutrition is highly prevalent in hospital in-patients and it decisively conditions patients clinical outcome. One of the most influencing factors of malnutrition in hospitalized patients is--at least in part--the Catering Service Quality.


OBJECTIVE
Is to verify, over a 5 year period, the course of the quality of the institutional Catering Service, verifying the effectiveness of the quality improvement process used.


METHODS
Quality control was performed by objective (meal order accuracy, proper distribution of food in trolleys, route time from the kitchen to the ward and time of food distribution, food weight and temperature, waste assessment) and subjective assessment (quality was measured by giving the patients a questionnaire after meals).


RESULTS
The survey included: 572 meals and 591 interviews. A significant amount of "qualitative" errors (lack of respect for patient preferences or at the moment of supplying the food trolley) have been found. Over the time and the amount of patients that wasted a considerable amount of the portion served was considerably reduced food temperature have been improved. Also patient satisfaction with menu variability, portion size, temperature and cooking quality improved over time. The overall ratings of meals under observation improved too in fact, positive opinions ranged from 18% in 2002 to 48.3% in 2006.


CONCLUSIONS
Ongoing research and quality verification, which include all catering service workers, yields a constant improvement in quality. Patients in healthcare settings should receive a service they appreciates, but it should be--at the same time--correct from a nutritional point of view. For this reason, it is necessary a continuous mediation between customers satisfaction and nutritionists work, dieticians and nursing staff. From this point of view the educational approach becomes essential to feed patient compliance to dietetic treatment that will continue after discharge.
Dipartimento di Fisiopatologia Medica, Sezione di Scienza dell'Alimentazione, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Ple Aldo Moro, 5-00185 Rome, Italy. lorenzomaria.donini@uniroma1.it
L M
LM
Donini
E
E
Castellaneta
S
S
De Guglielmi
M R
MR
De Felice
C
C
Savina
C
C
Coletti
M
M
Paolini
C
C
Cannella
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005502:Food / Q000592:standards*; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D005521:Food Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008612:Menu Planning; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011786:Quality Control; D013649:Taste; D013696:Temperature