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Wayne
HealthCare Offers Room Service to Patients
February 12, 2016
Patients who are admitted to Wayne HealthCare will now have room
service meal options. The idea for implementing room service began as a
HealthCare with Heart employee engagement action team project. The team
purpose was to improve the patient experience by identifying ways to
create a team-focused environment while improving delivery of care and
efficiency.
While working as team, employees developed the project objective,
recommendations and next steps. During this process, employees realized
they would need assistance from the nursing staff, director of
nutrition services and administrative staff to make this project a
reality.
Based on the recommendations and data it was decided that implementing
room service would improve the patient experience and reduce food
waste. The room service model has shown that patients tend to eat
better in the hospital, when they select their own meals right before
eating, depending on how they feel. It also allows for fresh food
options that are made to order.
“I was very excited to make the switch from the traditional tray line
service to a patient focused room service program because it allows the
patient to have more control,” said Carolyn Doenges, MS, RD,
LD,Director of Nutrition Services. “It has been a very smooth
transition and we are very thankful that administration supported this
effort and the staff has embraced the change well. We developed
new menus for patients, new meal trays for food delivery and new
uniforms for staff.”
The room service option allows patients and their care team to work
together and have more control over when meals are served. It
also gives patients the opportunity to have their meals during their
regular meal times at home. Patients can also schedule their meals
around different tests and procedures, without missing meals or eating
cold food when returning to their room.
Patients order from a restaurant style menu, based on their dietary
guidelines, and then place their orders by calling the Wayne Selections
call center before each meal. If patients are unable to make the calls,
Room Service Ambassadors or family members can assist the patient.
Ambassadors will then deliver meals to the patient’s room when the
order is ready. Patients may order meals daily 6:30am to 6:30pm. Meals
will be delivered by a meal service ambassador within 45 minutes.
The room service project included consultants, kitchen renovations and
technology implementation to support the meal service improvements.
Three additional employees have been hired to implement room service at
the hospital. The new employees are responsible for meal ordering, food
preparation, meal delivery and tray pick-up.
“When we made the decision to move to a new meal delivery system we
knew it would be a major process change for the nutrition services
department, but a change that would benefit our patients. Carolyn and
her staff did a fantastic job throughout the process and their hard
work made this a successful project,” said Jeff Subler, Vice President
of Support Services.
Nutrition Services prepares 2,000-2,500 patient meals each month.
We have received positive patient feedback regarding the taste,
presentation of food and service provided by our Ambassadors.
The new meal delivery service is one more effort to support the mission
and vision at Wayne HealthCare, where the focus is providing quality
care and promoting wellness, close to home.
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