hospital catering

HOSPITAL CATERING

The hospital, today, is one of the most complex and fascinating

organizations that mobilizes the skills and efforts of a number of widely divergent groups of professionals, semi-professionals and

non-professionals to provide a highly personalized service to individual

patients.

Today, the dietary department ranks as one of the major departments of the hospital, headed by a specialist, the dietitian. "The object of catering in

hospitals is to assist the nursing staff to get the patient better as soon as

possible. To do this, it is necessary to provide good quality food, to cook it

with the minimum loss of nutrients and to provide it to the patients in an

appetizing manner. If the food supplied to the patient is good plentiful,

appetizing and nutritionally correct, then it plays a very great part towards

the speedy recovery of the patient. - A part possibly as equally important

as careful nursing and skilled medical attention.

Diet therapy is the use of food; as an agent in effecting recovery from

illness. It 'is concerned with the nutrition of all patients-those receiving

normal diets as well as those for whom modified diets have been

prescribed.

The normal diet may be modified

- To provide change in consistency as in fluid and soft diets

- To increase or decrease energy levels

- To include greater or lesser amounts of one or more nutrients

egg, high protein, low sodium etc..

- To increase or decrease fiber content of diet

- To provide foods bland in flavor

- To include or exclude specific foods as' in allergic conditions.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF DIETS

Regular/Normal diet, soft diet, bland diet, high or low fibre diet

high or low protein diet, high-or low, fat diet, sodium restricted

diet.

Menus are generally planned and then formulated into 'Diet List1. These

are made available to all attending medical staff.

General diets are those which are normally followed in the general wards.

Menus are made four days to a week in advance. The dietitian plans menus

for each separate meal, specifying the foods to be served in a suitable

form. The nursing supervisors will keep the dietary department advised as

to the number of patients of each type of diet.

Special diets are prepared for those who ate not medically capable or

permitted to eat certain food items which are generally used in the making

of the menu. These diets are prepared under the supervision of the

dietitian or the food service supervisor

Kitchen: The hospital kitchen is planned with much consideration. The

kitchen has a receiving area, proper storage facilities, pre-preparation

room, preparation area or the main/hot kitchen. The hospital kitchen may

also have a cold kitchen.

The kitchen may also be divided into various sections such as

pre-preparation area, preparation area, grain cleaning area, tea and coffee

section, roti preparation, service and trolley loading area, washing area,

stores. The pre-preparation and preparation area may be further divided

into separate Indian and Continental areas. The location of storeroom in

relation with the kitchen is very important to avoid contamination of the

food material and also to prevent pilferage. Separate storage areas for

perishable and non-perishable items are desired.

The work flow, sufficient spacing between work tables/platforms and the

presence of various equipments must be considered when planning the

kitchen.

Equipments commonly found in hospital, kitchens:

1.Gas ranges 11.Steamer

2.Refrigerators12.Chapatti tava and puffer

3.Deep Freezers-13.Deep fat fryer

4.Walk-in Cooler14.Pressure Cooker

5.Grinding stone15.Ovens

6.Masala grinder16.Salamander

7.Brat Pan 17.Weighing scale

8.Dough mixer18.Toaster

9.Food processor19.Bain Marie

10.Rice boiler

SERVICE

Food service for patients may be may be any one of the two general

patterns –

Decentralised or centralised.

In decentralised, service all food is prepared in a central kitchen and sent

to the floors, where it is portioned out on trays and served to patients

In centralised service, food is prepared in a central kitchen, trays are set

up and food is portioned out in a central serving unit and trays are sent to

all patients' floor.

Menus in Govt. Hospitals:

In Govt. hospitals where only a small percentage of the patients can afford

to pay for special service, it is unwise to burden either the individual patient

or the hospital with unnecessary expenses. The general menu is:

EMT

Breakfast:

One cup of milk

Two slices of bread

Lunch & Dinner:

Rice

Chapatti

Dal

One vegetable.

Menu in private hospital (First class):

EMT

Breakfast:

Two slices of bread

One bowl of cereal

Egg (any style)

Vegetarian snack

Mid morning:

Fresh fruit juice

Lunch:

Soup

Chapatti

Rice

Vegetable (choice of two vegs)

Pulse

Curd

Fruits

E/Tea - Milk, Biscuits

Dinner:

Same as Lunch

Vernon Coelho

Ihm Mumbai

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