title: At Your Request(®) room service dining improves patient satisfaction, maintains nutritional status, and offers opportunities to improve intake.
abstract: Malnutrition in hospitals may be combatted by improving the meal service.
  
  
  
  To evaluate whether At Your Request(®), a meal service concept by Sodexo with a restaurant style menu card and room service, improved patient satisfaction, nutritional status, and food intake compared to the traditional 3-meals per day service.
  
  
  
  We prospectively collected data in Hospital Gelderse Vallei (Ede, the Netherlands) before (2011/2012; n = 168, age 63 ± 15 y) and after (2013/2014; n = 169, 66 ± 15 y) implementing At Your Request(®).
  
  
  
  Patient satisfaction increased after implementing At Your Request(®) from 7.5 to 8.1 (scale 1-10) and from 124.5 to 132.9 points on a nutrition-related quality of life questionnaire (p < 0.05). Body weight and handgrip strength did not significantly change in both periods. At admission, more patients in the At Your Request(®) period had risk of malnutrition (MUST ≥ 1; 47 vs 37). MUST scores improved in 18 patients in both periods. With At Your Request(®) 0.92 g protein per kg (g/kg) bodyweight was ordered. Protein intake based on food records from patients on an energy and protein enriched diet was 0.84 g/kg during At Your Request(®) (n = 38) versus 0.91 g/kg during the traditional meal service (n = 34).
  
  
  
  At Your Request(®) is a highly rated hospital menu concept that helps patients to maintain nutritional status. The concept offers options for improving the intake of specific nutrients and foods, which should be evaluated in further studies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Human Nutrition and Epidemiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Astrid S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Doorduijn
authors.affiliation: Nutrition Alliance Gelderse Vallei, Ede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: van Gameren
authors.affiliation: Hospital Gelderse Vallei, Ede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Emmelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vasse
authors.affiliation: Division of Human Nutrition and Epidemiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: nicole.deroos@wur.nl.
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: de Roos
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001835:Body Weight; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D005521:Food Service, Hospital; D018737:Hand Strength; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D062407:Meals; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D009752:Nutritional Status; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Care; Hospital food service; Malnutrition; Nutrition; Nutritional status; Patient satisfaction