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Hospital Food Gets a Makeover: Kids Choose Their Meals!
10 Oct
Summary
- Patients now order meals via an app with hotel-style menus.
- New options include smoothies, butter chicken, and bento boxes.
- Patient satisfaction increased to 90% with reduced food waste.
Alberta Children's Hospital has significantly upgraded its inpatient food services, introducing a new system that prioritizes patient choice and flexibility. Patients now have the ability to order meals through a dedicated app, which features a hotel-style menu with visual aids. This allows them to select from a much wider array of food options tailored to various dietary and cultural needs, alongside kid-friendly entrées and smoothies.
Implemented on October 6th, the revamped menu offers dishes such as salmon and butter chicken, while still including familiar favorites like chicken fingers. This move away from the previous static menu, which offered only two choices per meal, aims to enhance the patient experience during their hospital stay. Dining ambassadors are also available to assist patients with their selections, ensuring they receive meals that suit their appetite, whether it's a light smoothie or a full dinner.
The initiative, supported by the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation, also saw a reduction in meal waste from 44% to 32%. Patient satisfaction with the new dining model has reached an impressive 90%. Hospital staff hope these changes will positively alter perceptions of hospital food by providing delicious and personalized meal options.
