Diet Office Management:
Assistance from Mobile Applications
Diet Office Management: Assistance from Mobile Applications
A patient’s journey from admission to discharge entails many interventions, including nutrition therapy, which are integral to the recovery process. Whether regular or modified, a patient’s diet is an important part of the recovery process.
Once a diet order is prescribed by a licensed medical professional, the hospital diet office administers it. Without automation, diet office management can quickly become complicated and time-consuming – especially in a large facility or health system where census is high and diet orders change rapidly throughout the day. It is critical to minimize risks from oversight or human error, which can adversely affect the quality of patient care. It is well-documented that malnutrition is not uncommon in hospitalized patients and can have a negative effect on patient outcomes.
So, how can you manage such a significant responsibility? Not to mention, with high employee turnover and labor shortages in healthcare, how can you maximize the staff you do have?
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Certain software solutions can supplement diet office management and streamline processes. Below are some methods to ease the burden on food and nutrition services.
Bedside Spoken Ordering
Take orders at bedside with tablets to facilitate discussion between staff and patients. Increase efficiency, save time, reduce paper, improve accuracy, reduce waste, and boost satisfaction.
Room Service Ordering
Manage high volumes of orders within a call center environment. This is especially helpful for enterprise health systems with multiple sites that must centralize calls in a single location.
Patient Self-Ordering
Provide patients with the option to use their personal mobile device to order a meal. Self-ordering empowers patients to control when, how, and what they want to order, giving them a convenient and comfortable alternative.
Tray Tracking & Analytics
Scan trays prior to delivery to ensure each meal is being delivered to the correct patient. Add dashboards to visualize operational efficiency, which may also create friendly competition among staff.
Automated Nutrition Care
Centralize data to maintain consistency within all your applications. Integrate with the patient’s electronic health record (EHR) to manage likes, dislikes, allergies, and restrictions.
Overall, it can be highly beneficial to have different ordering solutions to meet the various needs of your patient population. Implementing diet office management systems will support your staff and help operations stay proactive rather than reactive. In addition, a positive experience will benefit patients and staff alike, leading to higher hospital-wide satisfaction!