Patient perceptions on hospital food service at Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya

Abstract

Background: Hospital diet is an integral part of the management of inward patients. The quality of hospital food plays a major role in determining the overall satisfaction of patients with regards to their hospital stay. Objective: To investigate the level of patient satisfaction with regards to the diet supplied at Teaching Hospital (TH), Karapitiya. Methods: A descriptive, cross sectional study was conducted among 316 patients who received inward treatment at TH Karapitiya and consumed hospital diet. Data were collected using an interview-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS statistical software. Results: During the study period, only 27% of the inward patients consumed hospital diet. Of 316 included in the analysis, 13.6% rated hospital diet "good", 59.7% "fair", and 26.6% "unsatisfactory". Patients were satisfied with the quantity of all types of food provided (above 85%), time of food distribution (90%), temperature of food (85%) and texture (86%). However, 31% of patients were unsatisfied with taste, 40% were unsatisfied with the smell of food and 29% were unsatisfied with the diversity of food provided. No significant association was found between overall satisfaction regarding food service and the patients' age, gender, ethnicity, educational level or length of hospital stay. Conclusions: Patient perception on hospital food service at TH, Karapitiya was mostly favourable although patients were less satisfied about the quality of food. The proportion who consumed hospital food was low. Attempts must be taken to enhance the taste, smell and the diversity of food provided.

Quality and standards of hospital food service; a critical analysis and suggestions for improvements

“…Patients consider hospital meals to be undesirable due to issues related to quality of food such as menu items, portion size, taste, temperature, texture and variety of food as well as poor service standards such as tray presentation, sanitation, availability of nutritional information and responsiveness to food problems (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). Attitudes of staff serving food and absence of disturbance are also related to satisfaction with food service (21) Research has proven that patient satisfaction on hospital food service can be improved by interventions that improve meal delivery (1,2) and quality of food (21).…”

“…A situational analysis involving four major hospitals in Galle and Rathnapura districts revealed that only 30% or less of the inward patients consume hospital meals (unpublished data). A study conducted at Teaching Hospital Karapitiya found that only 27% of inward patient consumed hospital diet (20). The major reasons for poor consumption were the tastelessness, unpleasant aroma of food and shyness to eat hospital food.…”

A Conceptual Model of Developing a Measurement Tool for Hospital Food Service Operation in Malaysia

“…Previous studies reported that the food service quality was evaluated by in-patients based on several factors such as nutritional value, taste, texture, variety, sanitation, portion size, temperature, meal time and servers' characteristics (Fallon et al, 2008;Theurer, 2011;Wright et al, 2006). It was suggested that the patients' attitudes and their level of satisfaction with hospital food service depend mainly on these factors (Fernando & Wijesinghe, 2016).…”

Putting quality food on the tray: Factors associated with patients’ perceptions of the hospital food experience

“…There have been mixed results to date with respect to predictors of patient perceptions of hospital food. Some have suggested patient traits have no effect, [33][34][35][36] whereas others note that gender 23,28,29,37 and age 23,28,29,38,39 are important. Mealtime accessibility challenges, 40 diet type 23,29 and length of stay 23,29,34 also influence perceptions of hospital food.…”

“…Mealtime accessibility challenges, 40 diet type 23,29 and length of stay 23,29,34 also influence perceptions of hospital food. Because most of these studies were conducted at a single site, 23,28,29,[33][34][35][36]38,39 generalisability is limited. Furthermore, some used unvalidated methods of assessing patients' food quality perceptions.…”