Improving Food Scores in Customer Satisfaction, Part 3

The third complaint that comes up most frequently is a lack of variety or choices.

It may seem more cost effective to buy items in bulk, don’t forget to consider the cost of having a poor reputation in the community—which can be substantially more.
Remember, most people appreciate good food.  And even if your resident has lost their appetite or sense of taste, their visiting family members will see or hear about the food you are providing, and they are the more vocal advocates in the community for  your facility.

“The food was typically the same, with little variety or fresh food.”
“They need to give her more choices in what type of foods she likes to eat, like peanut butter sandwiches. She loves those, but they will not give them to her."

I could list hundreds more comments just like these--but the point is made. Here are a  few comments from some facilities who are doing a great job:

“The chef told me if there was anything I wanted that they didn't have, he would cook it for me.”
“I did eat some of moms grapes from one of her meals. They looked so good. Their food is very nutritious. They serve well balanced meals including meat and a variety of vegetables."




I toured a facility a few weeks ago that consistently performs at the highest level in overall Customer Satisfaction. They have consistently performed  in the top 10% nationally across the board in all scoring. I asked the administrator, Bruce, about their meal program. "We've changed from 3 meals a day to 5 meals a day," he said, "And we've loaded the cupboards with snacks of all kinds, so any time they are craving something, residents can go have a snack--and the cupboards are open 24 hours a day." Little things like increasing snack choices and making them available have a tremendous impact on overall customer satisfaction. It's the little things like this that transform the "facility" into a "home". Bruce, has done a really effective job of seeing meal time through his resident's eyes.

Sometimes we just need a reminder--that for our residents, our facility is their home--and Meal Time has been a significant part of their lives.

Craig Christiansen
Pinnacle Quality Insight
801-293-0700

Improving Food Scores in Customer Satisfaction, Part 2

Monday's post covered being aware of and meeting your resident's dietary needs. The second complaint or praise I want to address has to do with a facilty's ability or inability to see the mealtime experience  through their resident’s eyes. All too often in life, we see the world through our own perspective and fail to recognize the perspective of others. This can be an enormous fallacy as a caregiver, and can be the cause for many complaints.

You may not need help cutting meat, but some of your residents will. It may not make a big difference if you miss a meal, but it could be a significant challenge for some of your residents.

While mealtime may be just something on the schedule for some of your employees, it can be a significant break in the routine for residents.  As with Monday's post, I've italicized the comments that illustrate a facility's need for improvement, and bolded the comments that illustrate a job well done.

“My food was not always hot. It would have been nice if they would have uncovered the meal and cut up the meat.”
“There have been a few times when he was in physical therapy or with a doctor and missed a meal. They need to  follow up with meals, because it’s not good for an elderly person to go without especially if they are diabetic.”
“I didn't like the food. I suppose the bland food was good for the older people, but I don't consider myself older. I'm seventy-two.”
“They always brought me a try of food without even asking. I felt that was so thoughtful and caring.”
“They had a slip for you to put things you don't like and what you do like. They try to accommodate your wants.”
"I value a diet that will make him strong, so he can do his physical therapy.”
“He was on a pureed diet, but yet it was tasteful, and he never complained about it. When he had trouble, they went out of their way to find something for him to eat.”
“They were so good to my husband. When he was there at mealtime, they offered him a meal as well so he could eat with me.”
“The food was just great, and the quantity was very good. My wife's appetite has fallen off significantly and is just about non-existent. When I was there around dinnertime, there was always someone asking her if she could eat a little more.”

I recently toured one of our higher performing facilities who had transitioned from 3 meals a day to 5 meals a day, and had the cupboards stocked with plenty of snack choices. Their food scores are quite high, and their residents and family members are quite happy with the care they receive.

What is easy for some, is challenging for others.  And in the world of caregiving, it is absolutely imperative that you look at the mealtime through the lenses of your residents--and make changes to accommodate. 

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

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

Article Review: Do's and Don'ts of Connecting, by Jim Gilmartin

Though most people who follow this blog are caregivers, many are vendors of products intended for Seniors or  Long-Term Care recipients.

I found an article yesterday by Jim Gilmartin from Coming of Age Inc, with some great tips for those "interested in securing a competitive edge for your product in baby boomer and older consumer markets (aging customers)".  When marketing your product or service to an aging population--whether they be baby boomers, or senior citizens, keep the following do's and don'ts in mind:



Some of the Do's include:

1. Learn as much as you can about physical and behavioral changes caused by the aging process. Apply your knowledge to product design, marketing, advertising and sales communications and approaches.  
2. Design your promotion or advertising to allow the consumer to define the service attributes using his/her imagination in terms of his/her needs and desires. Don't try to shove ten pounds of copy into a five-pound page. Less is more.
3. Design your product to meet functional, social reinforcement, and related experiences' expectations. 4. Promote and advertise your product as a gateway to desired experiences beyond the intrinsic value of your product. What additional value does you product provide?  
4. Be authentic and give them the facts (reduce hyperbole).  
5. Portray these populations as doing for others, as individuals, as smart, as active, as wise.  
6. Use marketing and advertising firms with a demonstrated knowledge of your target markets (Check if people matching your targets age are on the creative team).
7. Use aging customers to assist in product, service and communications development.  
8. Touch their hearts and they will allow you to enter their minds. 

Some of the Don'ts include:
1. Don't underestimate the significance of these markets. They are the New Customer Majority. More than 110 million people in America are over the age of forty.
2. Don't consider age a determinant of consumer behavior (there is no evidence that a person's age is a major factor in determining buying habits). Age should be considered as a correlating factor only.
3. Don't design your service or advertisements to appeal to self-gratifying interests of the consumer.
4. Don't design or promote your services to appeal to the vulnerabilities associated with the aging process. At times they feel bad enough; you don't have to remind them.
5. Don't attempt to instill a "sense of urgency" during a purchase consideration (time is usually not of the essence in their decision making process).
6. Don't over-embellish product or service performance claims -- may be automatically perceived as misleading as would small print on product labels and advertising.
7. Don't stress self-indulgent of your product/service -- more effective in younger markets.
8. Don't stress images that are contrary to traditional basic values. Generally accepted universal or traditional values may include American flag, church or temple, home, traditional small town, etc.


The entire article can be read here. 

Craig Christiansen
Pinnacle Quality Insight