Improving Food Scores in Customer Satisfaction, Part 1

Food consistently takes a hit in customer satisfaction scoring. No matter how hard you try, it’s difficult to compete with good old home cookin’. In addition, there are certain medications that affect taste buds, so even if you bring in a celebrity Executive Chef to serve up Fillet Mignon, it won't taste like it used to.

However, we’ve noticed that some facilities still receive high scores and very satisfactory commentary regarding their meals, so we know it can be done. It just requires some concerted effort, training of staff, and implementation of systems to allow for accommodation of specific needs.

After searching through several hundred comments from patients,  I’ve identified 3 of the most consistent factors that seem to make the biggest difference for residents and family members, in their overall satisfaction with their facility’s meals. For this series, I’ve italicized comments that accompanied low scores, and bolded comments that accompanied high scores so you can read commentary from both ends of the satisfaction spectrum. I've broken this subject into three "Best Practices", and will be publishing them in a three-part series.

Best Practice #1: Be aware of health and dietary needs, and have systems in place to accommodate.   

Concerns for residents with diabetes is one of the most frequent complaints. Make sure that those dietary needs are met, and there is a system in place to make sure there is an opportunity for individual needs to be met. While Diabetes is the most frequent need mentioned, there are other situations that need resident-centered treatment such as food allergies, lactose intolerance, gluten intolerance, and obesity.

“He is diabetic, and they are still giving him regular food. They aren't giving him the correct diet”
“One of our main issues when we arrived was that nobody was communicating. They knew his diet but the aides didn't know. Even the kitchen people were bringing him food that he wasn't supposed to have.”
“His roommate was a diabetic and I noticed that he was not fed the proper foods.”
“Their food and their menu need improvement. The other place had him on a diet because he is quite overweight. This place sends him pizza and spaghetti and stuff he doesn’t eat. They finally sent him a menu, but they send him things he doesn’t order. I have brought up some corn flakes, and he has been eating that for two of his three meals….”
“My mother needs to have a low fat and low sodium diet. They have a hard time accommodating her dietary needs.”
“He is on a very restricted diet, and his food must be finely chopped and his liquids thickened. They are very accommodating to these needs.”
“There are certain food she can't eat. They respect that and make sure they don't give her those foods.”

Respecting and accommodating dietary needs is the first step to changing your meal plan. If these comments are surfacing in your Pinnacle Reports, take the steps necessary to change. Improved scores go a long way to improving overall satisfaction.

Craig Christiansen
Pinnacle Quality Insight
www.pinnacleqi.com
info@pinnacleqi.com
(801) 293-0700