Impact of room service on nutritional intake, plate and production waste, meal quality and patient satisfaction and meal costs: A single site pre‐post evaluation
Bianca Neaves, Jack Bell, Sally McCray
Abstract
Abstract Aim Room service is a patient‐focused foodservice model gaining interest in Australian hospitals following demonstrated patient and organisational benefits. This study aimed to compare nutritional intake, waste, patient satisfaction, meal costs and meal quality between a bought‐in, thaw‐retherm foodservice model and a cook‐fresh, on‐demand room service model at a large tertiary public hospital. Methods A retrospective analysis of quality assurance data compared thaw‐retherm to room service. Nutritional intake and plate waste were measured using a visual intake analysis tool; production waste was measured using weighted analysis methodology; patient satisfaction was measured using a validated patient satisfaction survey; meal quality was assessed using a validated meal quality audit tool, and meal costs were obtained from hospital finance reports. Independent sample t ‐tests or nonparametric equivalent (Mann‐Whitney U ‐test) for continuous variables and Pearson's Chi‐square for categorical data were applied for comparative purposes. Results Average energy and protein intake, as well as percentage requirements met, improved between thaw‐retherm and room service (4320 kJ/day vs 7265 kJ/day; 42.4 g/day vs 82.5 g/day; and 46% vs 80.7%; 49.9% vs 98.4%; all P < .001. Reductions in plate waste (40% vs 15%) and production waste (15% vs 5.6%, P < .001) were observed and food costs decreased by 9% with room service. Meal quality audit results improved, and patient satisfaction increased with % respondents satisfied increasing from 75.0% to 89.8% (χ 2 9.985[2]; P = .007) for room service. Conclusions This research demonstrates significant improvements in patient and organisational outcomes with room service compared to a thaw‐retherm model in a large public hospital.