University Healthcare Foodservice Quality Improvement Report Analysis

This report presents a quality improvement proposal for a healthcare organization aiming to enhance its foodservice quality. The organization, concerned about the impact of its current dietary practices on patient recovery and satisfaction, initiated a comprehensive evaluation. The management team employed the 'road to evidence-based practice' approach, which involved asking pertinent questions, gathering information, conducting research, appraising data, implementing changes, and evaluating outcomes. A qualitative survey was conducted to identify areas for improvement, focusing on factors such as food quality, menu variety, patient preferences, and nutritional value. The report highlights the importance of balanced diets for patient well-being and recovery, emphasizing the role of the nursing and nutrition departments in the improvement process. Surveys were administered to assess patient satisfaction and identify areas needing attention, such as food temperature, taste, portion sizes, and nutritional information awareness. The findings were used to develop strategies to meet patient expectations and improve overall foodservice quality. The conclusion emphasizes the successful implementation of the proposal, highlighting the roles of the nursing and nutrition departments in monitoring patient diets and providing nutritional guidance.

Running head: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROPOSAL
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROPOSAL
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Discussion..................................................................................................................................1
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................1
References..................................................................................................................................2

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Introduction
The report focuses on a health care service organization that is going to make some
qualitative improvement in the organization by applying the road to evidence based practice
technique that includes specific steps, which are as follows:
Ask questions related to the particular issue, gather various information, and
implement appropriate search practice, critically appraise all the relevant information,
implement the method pertinent to obtain profitable results, and finally evaluate the
outcomes.
In this case, the organization is not satisfied with the quality of balanced diet that is
being provided to all patients. The management of the health care service identified that
whatever, the balanced diet is being suggested by the physician is being given to all patients;
however, the desired result has not been obtained (Melnyk & Morrison-Beedy, 2018). The
physicians claimed that the quality of the food that is being given to the patients is not of
better quality and must be improved so that patients can get benefited from a properly
balanced diet and can recover from their illness (Ginter, Duncan & Swayne, 2018)). The
management evaluated the entire scenario and decided that it is high time that the issue needs
to be addressed and solved as it is directly related to the patients' health; even if this issue will
increase, further it can affect the reputation of the health care service and can result in loss of
reputation. As this issue is related to improving quality of the food service in a health care
organization, it requires extensive research, and even for obtaining profitable results, relevant
evidence and information need to be efficiently evaluated (Parry, 2014). To deal with this
particular issue, the organization has formed a management team that will use specific
analytical tools to identify what all the reasons are there due to which this problem is arising
in the organization and will even conduct various surveys that will result in profitable

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outcomes (Field et al., 2014). In this case, qualitative research is performed using a non-
experimental research method and the management has included the nursing department in
the entire improvement process as they are the one who is going to study the outcomes after
the implementation of all relevant strategies.
Discussion
In this report, the main argument is all about improving the foodservice quality in the
health care organization by which patients can be given a properly balanced diet that will
help them to recover fast. The management team has decided that it will conduct a qualitative
survey related to the foodservice department on the organization for critically analyzing the
problem and obtaining relevant outcomes (Ross & Naylor, 2017). The expected result of the
organization is to identify why the patients are not getting any benefits from the food that is
being given to them and what are the specific areas where improvement is needed. The
management team appointed for this particular issue needs to focus on identifying various
areas associated with the food department that is from where the raw materials are being used
and of what quality. Whether the food that is being prepared for various patients are as per
the prescription given by nutritionists or not. Even it is necessary for the qualitative
improvement team to take help from the risk management team, as they are well aware of
facts that can be used for the improvement purpose (McFadden, Stock & Gowen III, 2015).
The nursing and nutrition department plays vital part in this entire qualitative improvement
initiative as they are directly associated with the relevant issues, and without their proper
coordination, innovative strategies cannot be prepared.
The quality improvement initiative is vital as nutritious food supports healthy ageing
and is necessary for optimal patient treatment and recovery (Crowl et al., 2015). A balanced
diet offers a sense of wellbeing and emotional comfort and is an essential expression of
cultural identity. Generally, poor nutrition is common nowadays and leads to burden of

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disease. Lack of nutrition in human body leads to specific chronic diseases such as type two
diabetes, many types of cancer, obesity, and some mental health disorder. Various studies
have been conducted where the researchers have propounded that nutrition standard is
essential to reduce the harm and prevent complications related to malnutrition and
dehydration. In this case, also the health care organization needs to improve its food service
related to nutrition to provide better health care services to its patients (Heiman & Artiga,
2015). The team has decided to conduct a case study qualitative research by which will
identify various factors that are affecting the foodservice department because of which they
are not able to prepare and deliver high-quality, nutritious food to patients. It is well known
by the team that food is an essential component to supporting health, and providing food that
meets preferences for taste and variety is particularly necessary for aged care patients
(Batalden et al., 2016). Even the improvement team asked the nutrition department of the
organization to conduct specific health surveys on different age group patients that include
male, female, and kids relating to diet, physical exercise, and common health behaviours of
patients. The team identified that there is lack of control during the production process that
results in quality hazards, including menus with low preferences, there is no consistency in
quality of menu, absence of menu variety, improper food temperature, and, most importantly,
deficiency of patients understanding of their balanced diet requirements. To critically analyze
above situation, the nutrition department must perform patient surveys on their menu
preferences regularly, and focus should be given to therapeutic diets and must ensure that
correct level of temperature is maintained while distributing the food to various patients
(Boak et al., 2015). Even the management may ask the dietary department to give specific
nutrition education and counseling regularly to patients.
It is a well-known fact that in the present competitive world, there is a high
competition amongst the health care industry, and each of organizations wants to provide

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better health care services that will attract more people. In this case, the organization realized
the competition that is existing in the present market and thus decided to improve the quality
of food services within the health care organization. It can be said that the vast competition
has compelled the organization to force the dieticians to provide high-quality, nutritious food
that, too, by using limited resources. The team takes into consideration various elements such
as quantities of food, dish presentation, sanitation, and service. A survey can be conducted on
patients where they could be asked to give their opinion on various factors such as:
What is the usual food temperature when it was being delivered to you?
What is the time when meal is being delivered to you?
What is the taste and portion size of the meal, and whether it is sufficient for you?
Whether the patient is aware of the nutritional value information of the food that he/ she is
consuming?
What is the menu variety that is given by the organization and whether proper sanitation is
being maintained in the entire organization?
By evaluating the different responses, the quality improvement team can identify
specific areas where priority should be given to overcome the foodservice issue. Even by
conducting this survey, the management can identify the patient's expectations and
preferences and can frame strategies that could provide better services to them and can meet
their required expectations (Mossialos et al., 2016). By preparing the questionnaire and
including both the nursing and dietary department, the organization has developed a quality
service model that will work simultaneously to achieve the ultimate goal (Kotecha, et al.,
2015). The focus of the service quality team is to maintain balance between customer
expectation and perception of service quality. Mainly, regular, diabetic, and low-sodium diets
were taken into consideration for the analysis purpose. The diet manuals of the hospital were

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used to identify the nutritional standard and even planned menu; recipes for different diets are
taken into consideration for critically analyzing the present situation.
Five hundred patients are selected randomly (70 low sodium diet, 370 regular diet,
and 60 diabetic diets) and were served food on multiple size trays. Diabetic diets differ as per
energy levels, so colored stickers were pasted on bottoms of tray to identify energy levels.
While delivering food trays to patients, three trays were randomly chosen for each diet, and
menu items were waited, and thus, the average was indicated as portions size. After the
mealtime gets over, the staff's collected selected trays and scraped menu items remaining on
trays into separate containers. The collected waste was measured and divided by number of
trays to obtain average plate waste of each menu item. Average plate waste was deducted
from portion size to identify the patient average consumption. The nutrients of each menu are
calculated, and it is analyzed that all the tree menus include energy, carbohydrates, protein,
and fats. By conducting this survey, the quality improvement team takes a step towards
enhancement of the foodservice in the organization.
Conclusion
Lastly, the report concludes that the organization has managed to improve the quality
of the foodservice department of the organization by conducting various surveys. Even it
proves to be profitable for the organization and the quality improvement team included the
nursing and dietary department in the improvement process. The nursing department's role is
to monitor the diet of the patient on regular basis so that outcomes can be measured, and any
further changes can be made as per the requirements in diets of the patients. Whereas the
nutrition department needs to guide the patients and give them basic nutritional knowledge
that is beneficial for them. The organization is well aware of the fact the providing adequate
and good quality nutritional care is extremely important for all health care services.

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References
Batalden, M., Batalden, P., Margolis, P., Seid, M., Armstrong, G., Opipari-Arrigan, L., &
Hartung, H. (2016). Coproduction of healthcare service. BMJ quality & safety, 25(7),
509-517.
Boak, G., Dickens, V., Newson, A., & Brown, L. (2015). Distributed leadership, team
working and service improvement in healthcare. Leadership in Health Services.
Crowl, A., Sharma, A., Sorge, L., & Sorensen, T. (2015). Accelerating quality improvement
within your organization: applying the model for improvement. Journal of the
American Pharmacists Association, 55(4), e364-e376.
Field, J. M., Heineke, J., Langabeer, J. R., & DelliFraine, J. L. (2014). Building the case for
quality improvement in the health care industry: A focus on goals and
training. Quality Management in Healthcare, 23(3), 138-154.
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health
care organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
Heiman, H. J., & Artiga, S. (2015). Beyond health care: the role of social determinants in
promoting health and health equity. Health, 20(10), 1-10.
Kotecha, J., Brown, J. B., Han, H., Harris, S. B., Green, M., Russell, G., ... & Reichert, S. M.
(2015). Influence of a quality improvement learning collaborative program on team
functioning in primary healthcare. Families, Systems, & Health, 33(3), 222.
McFadden, K. L., Stock, G. N., & Gowen III, C. R. (2015). Leadership, safety climate, and
continuous quality improvement: impact on process quality and patient safety. Health
care management review, 40(1), 24-34.

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Melnyk, B. M., & Morrison-Beedy, D. (Eds.). (2018). Intervention Research and Evidence-
Based Quality Improvement: Designing, Conducting, Analyzing, and Funding.
Springer Publishing Company.
Mossialos, E., Wenzl, M., Osborn, R., & Sarnak, D. (2016). 2015 international profiles of
health care systems. Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health.
Parry, G. J. (2014). A brief history of quality improvement. Journal of Oncology
Practice, 10(3), 196-199.
Ross, S., & Naylor, C. (2017). Quality improvement in mental health. King's Fund.