Teamwork makes for success
Take one part finicky eater, add 1 part very busy nurse and whisk in one part rigid meal delivery system. The end result is a less than satisfying experience for pediatric patients, their families, pediatrics staff and Nutrition Services employees - a "lose-lose-lose" situation if there ever was one. This was our reality. Patient Satisfaction survey results reflected the fact that we were truly underwhelming our pediatric patients and their families.
Last spring Nutrition Services director Valerie Langbein knew to the time was right for drastic action. The answer that emerged was a hotel-style room service system for feeding patients on Grant 8-Pediatrics. We had investigated room service thoroughly and knew we had the potential for a win-win-win situation - happy patient, happy nurse and happy Nutrition Services. We also knew that administration was supportive of the concept. It was time!
The first step was to design a new pediatric menu. We surveyed peds staff, peds patients and families, and our staff that worked with peds patients. We came up with a great, kid-friendly menu, complete with Kraft Macaroni and Cheese! We tested items, worked with our vendors to assure availability of special products and came up with a winner.
The next step was to map out the meal delivery process. Historically, we sent meals to Pediatrics according to the tray delivery schedule, whether the patients were ready to eat or not. The room service approach completely changed this dynamic. It allowed patients to request a meal when they were ready to eat, between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm . This step was actually more difficult than developing the menu - lots of details to work out, and it required cooperation from Housekeeping, G8 Peds, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Nutrition Services.
Staff was in-serviced, menus were printed, go-live day grew closer. We tweaked the process again and again. We were ready!
We went live at lunch time on August 3, 2004 . And we’re proud to report that Peds room service is going great! Due to the significant process planning that went into the project, we’ve had few problems along the way, and all have been fixable. Soon after we went live, we learned about the "Chicken Drummie Petition." A patient who is frequently on Peds initiated a petition to add Chicken Drummies to the pediatric room service menu. He convinced nurses and doctors to sign the petition. This intrepid patient also inflated examination gloves, decorated them as chickens, and "decorated" department head nurse Mikele Neal’s office door with them. Needless to say, Chicken Drummies are now on the Peds room service menu.
This has been a wonderful Patient First project, and even though we don’t have Patient Satisfaction data to back it up yet, we’re hearing such positive feedback from patients, families, Peds staff and Nutrition Services staff, we’re convinced room service is the win-win-win we were hoping for. The patients get to eat what they want, when they want it. Nurses have fewer food service issues to deal with. And Nutrition Services staff members are very proud of the excellent service they are providing their customers. We no longer have to send multiple trays to the same patient to finally satisfy that finicky appetite, and plate waste has dropped significantly! Grant 7 is next!
Morals of the story:
- Multi-disciplinary teamwork is critical to success
- Don’t skimp on planning
- Partner with your customers, they’re part of the team too...
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