So you are anxious to get your hospital room service off and running. You want improved customer satisfaction and to achieve operating savings. With an equipment list and room service software in hand, what other key factors should you consider when you are implementing hospital room service? Please consider:
- Quantify Existing and Projected Meal Delivery Costs – Have all food, labor, overhead, and equipment cost included in your historical data. Census data is very important. All new needs and room service costs can be projected against the financial history to capture the overall savings. Essentially, you are opening a new restaurant within your operation and you must be able to justify it .
- Start Up Support – A fully supported transition with room service veterans will make room service implementation go smoothly. For the first 10 days, having veterans prepping, cooking and delivering room service meals will demonstrate that the system works and is the best way to educate staff stepping into these new roles. Consulting groups often work with you through the implementation in this way
- Communication – The quality and speed of communication will have to increase in hospital room service. Instead of delivering a predetermined meal at a predetermined time, you must be able to react as the patients’ orders come in. The order taker , the prepper, the cook, tray line assembler and hostess must all be able to work an individual order ticket in concert and get it out on time. Executing accurate meals will call for each party to communicate well. A convention should be created requiring each link to make clear what happened to the ticket as it is passed down the line.
- Departmental Buy In – Showing and training all the other affected departments makes implementation of room service easier. Nurses, Diabetes educators and rehab therapists all will have to modify their work schedule some. For example, nurses no longer know when meals will be delivered and they have a harder time scheduling medication. By bringing them in and notifying them when the meal is delivered, you will have the team working together!
Looking for help with your room service project? Contact Lisa@dietaryequipment.net to get you rolling!
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