Cuisine Doctors

From diet charts planned by nutritionists to gourmet menus designed by executive chefs, F&B in hospitals has come a long way.

- Rita Dutta

Food constitutes an important part of patient care. The goal of food services in a hospital is to deliver right patient the right diet to enhance his food intake and nutritional status, as well as ensure faster recovery, augment clinical outcomes and improve his psychological well-being. In recent times the food services in hospitals have received a major fillip, so much so that hospitals are opting for hotel-style room service that allows patients to order their meals anytime. Several leading hospitals have a dedicated team of nutritionists, dieticians and chefs to oversee the food planning production. Diet planning is especially important in patients having heart disease or cancer as well as post surgical patients, point out experts.

Implementation of food production and services of patient meal is executed in the kitchen, keeping in mind the following points: eating and drinking likes, food allergies and the need for therapeutic diet, physical difficulties with eating and drinking, patient food and beverages requirements, cultural and religious beliefs, physical difficulties in chewing or swallowing of food and the mode of nutrition. Some of the diets common to hospitals are diabetic diet, soft diet, liquid diet, high calorie diet, high protein diet, renal diet and onco diet.

Today, patients and attendants are pampered with diverse cuisines from multiple regions of the world prepared by executive chefs. There is emphasis on providing farm fresh fruits and vegetables as well as organic food. Strategies are chalked out to reduce service delivery TAT and enhance patient satisfaction in food services. Technology is being leveraged for patient diet management. Several hospitals are using customised software to ensure that the right nutritional content is present in every meal that is served. Some hospitals are using bar code system to track real time patient kitchen order ticket alerts.