I'm talking about the prepackaged fruits, puddings, applesauces, juices etc not opened foods. I see mountains of this go back to dietarty. Does it get thrown away if it's not from an isolation room? Actually I'm sure it all gets thrown away but is there a reason to throw unopened prepackaged non-isolation room food away?
I think about the waste if it is tossed and hungry people in shelters and get sad.
Can packaged items from a patient's tray be recycled? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Things that don't need refrigeration can be saved in the patient's room or shared with visitors, but no one else can be "exposed" to food that has already been on a patient's tray.
Good question, though.
One possible long-range solution to the incredible amount of waste is conversion to a hospital room service model.
When hospitals first started converting to room service, I thought, "Oh brother! Another basically useless, and very expensive frill to further blur the distinction between hospitals and hotels!"
I would like to go on record to say that I was wrong.
In the "olden days," (for some of you this will be yesterday ), meals came at arbitrary times--usually 0700, 1200, and 1700. Dietary included the next day's menu so the patient could circle one of the limited options. Two kinds of soup. Three kinds of salad dressing. Beef or chicken or fish entree. Potatoes or noodles or rice. And a handful of desserts.
Besides being deadly dull, there were too many ways this could go wrong. If the patient was new or had been NPO the day before, they wouldn't have had a chance to mark a menu and they'd be at the mercy of the kitchen staff. If someone was out of the room for tests, they could return to find their food stone cold or gone after being picked up by some well-meaning staff member who assumed they weren't hungry.
What about people (like me) who don't usually eat breakfast? Or folks who eat their big meal in the middle of the day? Or those who want supper a little later than five o'clock?
Who ever decided to adapt room service to hospitals was probably motivated by the tremendous amount of waste and dissatisfaction generated by the one-size-fits-all approach.
I have been a patient and have worked in both kinds of systems, and let me tell you, I am truly impressed by the difference I see with room service.
Where I work now, we have a three-page menu that includes soups and salads, sandwiches and grill items, a host of traditional entrees and a plethora of side dishes and desserts. People with dietary restrictions see adapted menus.
There are no set meal times. Patients call any time during a twelve-hour window and get their trays 45 minutes later. They can pre-order lunch or dinner in the morning and specify a delivery time. They can get breakfast foods mid-afternoon or a hamburger at eight in the morning.
Because more of the items are individually produced, the quality of the food is better, and insulated carts keep it hot.
Dietary aids (dressed in black pants and vests and white shirts with black bow ties) make regular rounds throughout the hospital delivering trays directly to the rooms. No more giant cart sitting in the hall. No more losing a chunk of your nursing time to wrestle with the cart door and drop off trays. No more calling down to the kitchen with complaints or requests for missing or mistaken items. That is great for us, but it benefits the patients even more.
Late night eaters can ask us to label a sandwich and put it in the fridge. If people know they're going to be out of the room for awhile, they can order before they leave and ask for the tray to come in three hours.
The amount of waste is much lower and the satisfaction is a lot higher-- people don't order food they hate. When things are left on the trays, it's usually because there was too much or the patient didn't feel well enough to finish.
I can order trays for patients who don't speak English. We have Spanish menus, interpreter assistance (I ask them for a full day's order), the Language Line, and this is one time it's acceptable to ask for help from a family member. I have learned that chicken and rice is almost universally accepted and pork is a good thing to stay away from. I have also learned that our typical breakfast choices seem odd to much of the world.
When I have found myself in a quandary because I can't communicate well with my patient, I can call down to the kitchen and ask for information about previous meals.
So, I have gone from thinking room service was an annoying bit of frou-frou to believing it is a necessity. It might not work in every facility, but I work at a large urban hospital with a wide range of clientele, and it's a smashing success.
And from what I've heard, handling patient meals this way actually saves money.
For those of you who are still laboring under the old system, this might be something you could suggest to your management. When room service was first being suggested to hospitals, there was a lot of fear and resistance. At least now there are many examples to follow and the early glitches have been worked out.
If there are down sides to this plan, I haven't seen them. In fast, I cringe to think of ever going back to the old way.
The last hospital I was in had the room service menu ordering. It felt weird to do (more like a hotel) but I can see how this can save money. Order what you want, when you want it..less waste. This was a maternity unit. How would this work on other units? Do they put in the dietary restrictions and does it block those foods from the order?
The last hospital I was in had the room service menu ordering. It felt weird to do (more like a hotel) but I can see how this can save money. Order what you want, when you want it..less waste. This was a maternity unit. How would this work on other units? Do they put in the dietary restrictions and does it block those foods from the order?
There are usually menus tailored to the dietary restrictions. If the patient tries to order something that isn't allowed, the kitchen computer will alert the order taker who then tells the patient what alternatives are allowed.
Seems like it would work on almost any kind of unit where there aren't severe restrictions. Besides being an improvement on the meal side of things, food service is an area where we can give patients some autonomy when so many other kinds of control have been taken away, either by their health condition or by being out of their usual comfort zone.
We wre always supposed to throw it away. If it wasn't perishable, I never did. I always kept a big box of those items in my garage, and when the box got full I shipped it to colleagues with mission work I've done. Also did this with meds and supplies. And yes, I am aware that one is not supposed to do so. I think we are morally bound to break some rules.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
What an age of luxury we live in. I get why leftovers are tossed, but if we had less we'd put more effort into saving food that was untouched. Theoretically you could wipe off most packages, and most non infectious patients are less of a threat than the general grocery store population. Anyone could have touched that produce or that can, whether it came from the hospital or not.
Yea, you would think that stuff like applesauce and the stuff that is sealed good and doesn't need refrigeration like that could just be santi wiped off. Those wipes are supposed to kill anything :|
In my state, it's due to health department regulations. Food that is served can only be touched by dietary workers. Anything that's been in a patient room can't be served to anyone else....even homeless shelters etc. I know it's wasteful but there are reasons for the regulations.
You can always put that patient's name on unopened food packs and refrigerate it. Then they could use it as a snack if your facility allows it.
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rn/writer, RN
9 Articles; 4,168 Posts
Can packaged items from a patient's tray be recycled? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Things that don't need refrigeration can be saved in the patient's room or shared with visitors, but no one else can be "exposed" to food that has already been on a patient's tray.
Good question, though.
One possible long-range solution to the incredible amount of waste is conversion to a hospital room service model.
When hospitals first started converting to room service, I thought, "Oh brother! Another basically useless, and very expensive frill to further blur the distinction between hospitals and hotels!"
I would like to go on record to say that I was wrong.
In the "olden days," (for some of you this will be yesterday
), meals came at arbitrary times--usually 0700, 1200, and 1700. Dietary included the next day's menu so the patient could circle one of the limited options. Two kinds of soup. Three kinds of salad dressing. Beef or chicken or fish entree. Potatoes or noodles or rice. And a handful of desserts.
Besides being deadly dull, there were too many ways this could go wrong. If the patient was new or had been NPO the day before, they wouldn't have had a chance to mark a menu and they'd be at the mercy of the kitchen staff. If someone was out of the room for tests, they could return to find their food stone cold or gone after being picked up by some well-meaning staff member who assumed they weren't hungry.
What about people (like me) who don't usually eat breakfast? Or folks who eat their big meal in the middle of the day? Or those who want supper a little later than five o'clock?
Who ever decided to adapt room service to hospitals was probably motivated by the tremendous amount of waste and dissatisfaction generated by the one-size-fits-all approach.
I have been a patient and have worked in both kinds of systems, and let me tell you, I am truly impressed by the difference I see with room service.
Where I work now, we have a three-page menu that includes soups and salads, sandwiches and grill items, a host of traditional entrees and a plethora of side dishes and desserts. People with dietary restrictions see adapted menus.
There are no set meal times. Patients call any time during a twelve-hour window and get their trays 45 minutes later. They can pre-order lunch or dinner in the morning and specify a delivery time. They can get breakfast foods mid-afternoon or a hamburger at eight in the morning.
Because more of the items are individually produced, the quality of the food is better, and insulated carts keep it hot.
Dietary aids (dressed in black pants and vests and white shirts with black bow ties) make regular rounds throughout the hospital delivering trays directly to the rooms. No more giant cart sitting in the hall. No more losing a chunk of your nursing time to wrestle with the cart door and drop off trays. No more calling down to the kitchen with complaints or requests for missing or mistaken items. That is great for us, but it benefits the patients even more.
Late night eaters can ask us to label a sandwich and put it in the fridge. If people know they're going to be out of the room for awhile, they can order before they leave and ask for the tray to come in three hours.
The amount of waste is much lower and the satisfaction is a lot higher-- people don't order food they hate. When things are left on the trays, it's usually because there was too much or the patient didn't feel well enough to finish.
I can order trays for patients who don't speak English. We have Spanish menus, interpreter assistance (I ask them for a full day's order), the Language Line, and this is one time it's acceptable to ask for help from a family member. I have learned that chicken and rice is almost universally accepted and pork is a good thing to stay away from. I have also learned that our typical breakfast choices seem odd to much of the world.
When I have found myself in a quandary because I can't communicate well with my patient, I can call down to the kitchen and ask for information about previous meals.
So, I have gone from thinking room service was an annoying bit of frou-frou to believing it is a necessity. It might not work in every facility, but I work at a large urban hospital with a wide range of clientele, and it's a smashing success.
And from what I've heard, handling patient meals this way actually saves money.
For those of you who are still laboring under the old system, this might be something you could suggest to your management. When room service was first being suggested to hospitals, there was a lot of fear and resistance. At least now there are many examples to follow and the early glitches have been worked out.
If there are down sides to this plan, I haven't seen them. In fast, I cringe to think of ever going back to the old way.