Like a four-star restaurant at any resort, Monongahela Valley Hospital (MVH) is treating patients like hotel guests by providing a room service menu along with other quality guest services and amenities.

Gone are the days of hospital food consisting of canned, syrup-laden fruit and cold scrambled eggs delivered regardless of whether a patient was ready or able to eat. Today, the new hotel-style room service dining option gives patients the opportunity to eat what they like most, at the times when they are hungry.

This translates into a minimal waste of food and reduction in costs because patients are in control of ordering from a variety of foods when they are hungry. “Patients order what they want, when they want and are happier with the choice and quality of food,” says Stephanie Martinet, MS, RD, LDN, Director of Nutrition and Food Service at MVH. “There are no more meals discarded because a patient is out of the room having medical tests. Typically another meal would be delivered when the patient returned, doubling the costs,” says Martinet.

Every room has a menu with a golden post-it note attached that states, “As a hospital patient you may order food from the attached menu at any time between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Press the DIETARY button on your phone or dial 4115 to place your order. Your family and friends are encouraged to sample the menu in the hospital’s Gift Shop or Cafeteria. If you have a friend or family member who wishes to dine with you, guest meals are available and may be purchased for a fee of $5 each.”

The hotel-style room service works like it would at a luxury hotel with one notable exception – someone assists in making healthy food choices that taste fresh and delicious. When the patient pushes the Dietary button, a diet clerk answers the call and takes the patient’s order and the times the patient would like the food delivered. Everything from entrees to desserts to condiments, as well medically necessary preparation instructions such as “no salt” is entered into a computerized system with specialized software. Each food item and beverage item listed in the computer has corresponding nutritional information beside it. The software alerts the dietary central dispatch area if a patient has ordered anything he or she is allergic to, or, if they have reached their daily dietary limitations on sodium, sugar, calories and/or carbohydrates. If these limits are reached, the staff is alerted immediately.

If a patient is too sick or would like assistance in choosing menu items, a nutrition assistant visits and verbalizes the menu choices to the patient and obtains the food selections for each meal, snacks and beverages. The nutrition assistant also utilizes the diet ordered by the patient’s physician as a guideline. Each nutrition assistant is assigned to a specific floor and delivers the food to patients, assists patients who need help preparing their food like cutting meat or buttering toast, and gets to know the needs of the patient.

The hospital’s kitchen is a busy place. There are printers for the hot and cold food selections and they print every order. Unlike the old assembly lines, the kitchen is always hustling with individual orders. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are available throughout the day and cooks have just 45 minutes to get the food to the patient.

The software system generates reports on every patient and if a meal is missed, the patient will receive a phone call to ask if they would like anything to eat. The reports are also utilized for production averages, food quantities, types of food most requested and other useful patient and cost information.

Martinet, a 14-year veteran of food service at MVH, visited and spoke with nutritional service directors at hospitals across the United States who have initiated a hotel-style dining service. Martinet says, “Through my conversations and what I had witnessed at other hospitals, I detected that it was best to ease into the new system, so the our room service was piloted on the Women’s Services floor before it was implemented hospital-wide in October.”

Every staff member utilizing the system received training on a laptop computer and specialized software a month before and again immediately prior to the implementation of the program.

The restaurant-style menu developed by the MVH Nutrition and Food Service Department gives a plentiful assortment of meal choices. In fact, the choices per meal have tripled in the past year. A heart symbol on the menu indicates items that are heart healthy and carbohydrates are listed beside carb-friendly foods. As a guide for the patient, there is a suggested carbohydrate servings per meal chart on the menu.

Michele Pfarr, RD, LDN, Clinical Nutrition Manager says, “The patients really like the food, the many different selections and they like to eat whenever they choose.” She noted that when people have access to foods they prefer, they tend to eat better – and eating well usually has a positive effect on recovery.

Other quality guest services and amenities recently implemented at MVH include Concierge service, free internet access and a daily newspaper delivered to each patient’s room.