Abstract
The aim of this study was to explore patient satisfaction with hospital foodservice in the Swedish setting, using a validated instrument, adding this context to the existing body of research. The study was carried out at three hospitals employing cyclic menus and conventional cook-serve foodservice systems with centralised tray assemblies and hot-trolley distributions to the wards for service. Patient satisfaction was explored using a translated version of the validated Acute Care Hospital Foodservice Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire. Groups were compared with Mann-Whitney U-test and Kruskal Wallis test with a set significance level of P < .05. Questionnaires from 439 patients were included in the analysis. The majority (80%) reported an overall satisfaction of "good" or "very good." Questions related to Staff and Service received mostly the highest possible ratings, while questions related to Food Quality and Meal Size had slightly lower ratings and higher variation. Comparisons between groups showed that differences were small even when statistically significant. Low appetite and a long hospital stay had an adverse effect on overall satisfaction and food quality-related questions. Men and younger patients reported more often being hungry after and between meals. Hospital foodservice faces the challenge of catering to multiple patient needs. Monitoring patient satisfaction is crucial to ensure that foodservice operations remain evidence based. The Acute Care Hospital Foodservice Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire provided a general overview that indicated foodservice areas with potential for improvement, although patient satisfaction overall was high. However, patient satisfaction is a complex measure and reflexivity is required when interpreting empirical results.
Highlights
Monitoring patient satisfaction in operative hospital foodservice is an important part of informed quality management.[1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
Patients' satisfaction with hospital foodservice has been investigated in two reviews, which both concluded that patients are overall satisfied.[13,14]
Satisfaction was highest for the dimensions Staff and Service, Meal Service Quality and Physical Environment, while it was lowest for Meal Size and Food Quality
Summary
Monitoring patient satisfaction in operative hospital foodservice is an important part of informed quality management.[1,2,3,4,5,6,7] This strategy is a dimension of quality that can be related to approaches in health care sector, for example, patient centeredness or seeing patients as customers.[8,9] In research, patient satisfaction with hospital foodservice has been studied in many different settings with varying methods and conclusions. Patients' satisfaction with hospital foodservice has been investigated in two reviews, which both concluded that patients are overall satisfied.[13,14] In the systematic review by Dall'Oglio et al,[13] the results showed that questionnaires were the dominant form of inquiry. A majority of patients reported high satisfaction, which was attributed to appreciation of staff and service interactions, and the ability to choose what to eat. Food quality has been shown to be one of the most important predictors for overall satisfaction during hospital stay.[4,13] Despite studies from foremost Western countries,[13] additional studies from various countries have emerged with more heterogeneous reports of dissatisfaction, mainly attributed to food quality, communication with staff, and physical environment.[15,16,17]
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