SUMMARY

I completed my Food Service rotation at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, FL for an 8 week period. Jackson Memorial Hospital is a 1,500 bed acute care community hospital with a full service cafeteria and over 100 kitchen and retail staff. Here I was able to integrate my knowledge on management and leadership with the science of food and nutrition to develop “best practice” in a foodservice organization. I learned to operate a successful dietary system, became familiar with the Foodservice System Model and management techniques utilized to establish, implement and analyze: food product flow and kitchen design; procurement; food production; distribution and service; safety, sanitation, and maintenance; quality and customer/employee satisfaction; and management of human/financial resources. At the culmination of my rotation I performed staff relief and created a theme meal, coordinating and planning with various team members within Food and Nutrition services.

Theme Meal
I was able to plan, organize, and implement a theme meal for the employee cafeteria. For my theme meal I chose Mardi Gras, this holiday fell on my last week of the rotation and the facility has a large creole population. I prepared a report documenting the theme, objectives, menu, nutrient analysis, business plan (budget, staffing needs, facility requirements, equipment, and supplies), and outcomes.

Theme Meal

Renal Diet Inservice
I created an inservice for the call center staff on the Renal Diet. I assessed the needs of the call center staff by conducting a pre-inservice survey to determine which topics they felt they needed more education on. With this tool the renal diet was identified and I created a lesson plan, education material, and a post inservice assessment.

Renal Diet Inservice

Recipe Modification
I identified a menu item in both the cafeteria and patient trays which I could modify to increase the nutritive value. I analyzed cost, production feasibility, and consumer acceptance. With this project I prepared a report that includes the rationale for modifications, methods of modifying, and results of cost, feasibility, and acceptance analyses.

Recipe Modification

Bulletin Board
I created a bulletin board for the kitchen staff on the menu ordering system which the Nutrition Assistants (NA) and Call Center Operators use called HealthTouch. It is a great tool for them to use making menu ordering both beneficial for the worker and the patient. This bulletin board was created to help guide the kitchen staff on the importance of using the ordering system.

Bulletin Board

High Cost Premade Item
I identified a high cost premade item that can be made from scratch more cost effectively with the same or improved quality. In speaking with the executive chef I identified the meatloaf. A recipe standardization was performed. I considered the cost benefits, ingredient procurement, labor costs, equipment needs, as well as food safety. A report was prepared, including hypothesis, background information, methods (including statistical analysis of cost savings), results, discussion, and conclusion with my recommendations. This assignment help find cost savings to the department of $75,611 annually, which when shared with the director was implemented immediately.

High Cost Premade Item

Plate Waste Study
I performed a waste study in the dish room comparing the waste of the two different tray lines in the facility (room service vs traditional trayline). A report was prepared, including a literature review, methods, results, statistical analysis, discussion and conclusion with recommendations.

Plate Waste Study