FRIDAY, Oct. 22, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- It's not mealtime yet, but you've just awakened in your hospital bed, on the mend and starving.
If you're lucky enough to be in the right hospital, you could satisfy that ice cream craving or sink your teeth into a roast beef sandwich a half hour or so after you call room service.
That's right, room service.
The approach -- called by such names as "At Your Request" or "A La Carte" -- lets patients order food directly from the hospital food service department between regularly scheduled mealtimes, even if they just need a snack to tide them over. Better yet, the cost of these special orders are considered part of standard care, hospital officials said.
While only a minority of hospitals now offer this, the room service approach is boosting patient satisfaction, according to a study presented recently at the American Dietetic Association's Food and Nutrition Conference & Expo in Anaheim, Calif.
Lisa Sheehan-Smith surveyed four hospitals, talking to 85 managers and administrators about how the room service approach was working out. "The patient satisfaction results improved dramatically in each of the four hospitals," said Sheehan-Smith, an assistant professor of nutrition and food science at Middle Tennessee University in Murfreesboro.
And the staff members adjusted well, too, she said. At first, some nurses were wary at first, mostly because they thought it might endanger patients who needed to take medications after a meal. But one hospital solved that potential problem by instructing patients who ordered room service to alert their nurse so she or he would know when medication could be given.
For patients, Sheehan-Smith said, the chance to order the food they want when they want gives them a feeling of control. "Typically when you go to the hospital, you are told what is going to happen to you, when it is going to happen," she explained. "With the room service option, it gives patients a bit of empowerment. And since they get to eat what they want when they want it, it mimics their eating habits before they went in."
Elderly patients often don't have as big an appetite as younger folks, she added, so they can order what they'll eat, cutting down on wasted foods and decreasing food costs. Maternity patients may be hungry after a long labor and delivery, and they don't have to wait for the next scheduled meal.
About 25 percent of U.S. hospitals offer some form of room service option, according to Joyce Hagen-Flint, president of American Society for Healthcare Food Service Administrators, basing the estimate on several surveys. Many have launched the programs within the past three to five years, experts said.
In surveys measuring health-care satisfaction, hospitals that offer the room-service approach get better ratings when compared with hospitals that don't offer it, Sheehan-Smith said. Typically, she said, hospitals measure levels of satisfaction among patients in a variety of areas, including the food. Consulting firms rank the hospitals, comparing them to other institutions of the same size. "Compared to other hospitals, they are given a percentile, how they compare with the others," she said.
"One hospital went from being in the 25th percentile [for food service] to being in the 99th," she said.
"The satisfaction is phenomenal," agreed Joan Dolezal, director of food and nutrition services at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where "A La Carte" room service was launched in January.
"The food is very similar to what you would find in fine hotels," she said. Patients order through the room telephone from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. A software program determines if their order violates any restriction laid down by their doctor.
"Food is delivered within 45 minutes," Dolezal said. "You can have an omelette in the evening, you can have pizza with the topping of your choice."
At Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md., patients are pleased with the "At Your Request" service, said Jeff Joyner, vice president of patient support services. In its survey done by a consulting firm, their food service satisfaction rating went from the 52nd percentile to the 92nd.
Some experts speculate that the new approach may reduce stress and lead to shorter stays, but Jeff Joyner joked that he has found the opposite. "People like it so much they want to stay for one more meal," he said.
More information
To learn more about nutrition, visit the American Dietetic Association.
