Wayne HealthCare Offers Room Service to Patients

(Greenville, OH) - 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.