Hello! My name is Jenna Davison and I am currently a Sodexo dietetic intern completing my clinical hours at Norwegian American Hospital in Chicago, IL. During my patient services rotation, I got the opportunity to work on a project that would improve the patient experience at my hospital in a meaningful way. One thing I noticed was that the patients with dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) did not have a lot of food choices and would not often eat all or most of the meals that were delivered to them. The project that I got to implement was the creation of a purée menu and adding new food choices and recipes to the existing purée diet.
One major problem for people with dysphagia on a puréed diet is getting enough calories and fluids. My goal for creating this menu was to give them more food and drink choices to encourage them to meet their calorie and fluid needs. Also, ordering their food off of a menu to the diet office means that they get to have the same patient experience that every patient at the hospital does. Once it gets approved by other departments, my menu will be given to patients with dysphagia on a puréed diet.
What I have learned from this rotation is how valuable food delivery can be in the hospital. Making sure our patients get high quality and enjoyable food is not only beneficial for their experience, but can also possibly help decrease their length of stay and have better clinical outcomes. Hospital food often gets a bad reputation, but it is actually an extremely valuable tool we use to care for our patients while they are admitted.
One major problem for people with dysphagia on a puréed diet is getting enough calories and fluids. My goal for creating this menu was to give them more food and drink choices to encourage them to meet their calorie and fluid needs. Also, ordering their food off of a menu to the diet office means that they get to have the same patient experience that every patient at the hospital does. Once it gets approved by other departments, my menu will be given to patients with dysphagia on a puréed diet.
What I have learned from this rotation is how valuable food delivery can be in the hospital. Making sure our patients get high quality and enjoyable food is not only beneficial for their experience, but can also possibly help decrease their length of stay and have better clinical outcomes. Hospital food often gets a bad reputation, but it is actually an extremely valuable tool we use to care for our patients while they are admitted.
