Food-Service-Manual-for-Health-Care-Institutions

Food Service Manual for Health Care Institutions
496
• Will staff accept the change? What additional training is needed?
• Will physicians and nurses support the change?
• Will patient satisfaction increase from the current level?
• Will this change meet the needs or demands of patients?
• Will there be a reduction in error or duplicate trays?
• Will the service increase revenue?
Spoken Menu
In most health care facilities, less than 47 percent of selective menus are filled out by the patient
or patient’s family. In searching for improved service and reduced cost, many health care facilities
have implemented the spoken menu. A spoken menu is similar to restaurants that tell customers
what is on the menu. The menu or order is filled out for each patient by a food and
nutrition service representative who verbally describes the menu to them by 9 A.M. for lunch
and 2 P.M. for dinner and the next day’s breakfast.
The items from appetizer to dessert are recited, and the patient accepts the entire menu or
is offered an alternative for foods they dislike. The food and nutrition representative would say
to the patient, “Ms. Brown, for lunch today we have choice 1 or choice 2 available. Which
selection would you like?” Patients can ask questions about the selection if they are unfamiliar
with the selection described. The representative also describes the side dishes and the dessert of
the day. The patient does not select the side dishes or desserts because they are part of the meal.
The patient also chooses the beverage. If a patient hears a choice he or she does not like, the
patient tells the representative, who offers a substitute for the entree. Usually a list of substitutes
is available for every day.
During lunch service, the process is repeated for dinner and next day’s breakfast. The representative
records the patient’s selection by a number on a menu card, which the tray line
personnel use when they assemble trays and the tray passers use to identify the patient to whom
the tray should be delivered.
The use of a spoken menu provides both advantages and disadvantages. The following are
the advantages for a department:
• The diet office can be deleted.
• The diet office duties can be reassigned to patient representatives.
• The organization is flattened.
• Patients receive immediate answers to questions about items on the menu.
• Menu cost is nearly eliminated.
• Tray line service has less difficulty in deciphering the menu.
• Fewer mistakes are made when preparing and serving patient trays.
• Food service has more interaction with patients.
• Patient education can begin on the first visit as the patient representative explains the
menu items and, as appropriate, their modification for therapeutic diets.
• Production requirements are reduced.
• Food cost is decreased.
• Quality is improved due to production start time.
• Patients are more satisfied.
The following are disadvantages of the spoken menu:
• The staff is unable to forecast the number of servings because production for most items
does not begin until three to five hours before service.
• A well-developed training program must be in place and ongoing.
• Patient representatives must be motivated and knowledgeable concerning the products
on the menu; if they are not, patient satisfaction may become a problem.