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The VST System

Patient Menu Management Tool Kit:
ROOM SERVICE SYSTEM TOOL
Patient satisfaction. It's the primary reason the patient room service concept is gaining popularity in hospitals today. Patient satisfaction scores have increased in most facilities where patient room service has been initiated, sometimes dramatically.

The VST Patient Room Service Tool addresses all of the functionality required to fully automate the room service delivery process… from interfaces to the hospital's ADT and Order Entry systems, to call center management, to the printing of tray tickets in the kitchen assembly areas. The VST application is highly comprehensive, feature-rich, and fully integrates with all of the associated VST System clinical and production tools.

The VST Patient Room Service system operates in conjunction with all other VST menu selection methods — printed selective menus, non/pre-select menus, and "spoken menus" using PDAs at the patient bedside. All of these menu methods can be operated simultaneously. Additionally, the VST system uses automated methods to switch patients from room service to and from other menu delivery methods based on restrictions established by the facility, relieving staff from manual patient tracking tasks and assuring that all patients are appropriately served.

The room service concept enhances the image of the nutrition service department and the hospital in the eyes of patients and staff. VST tools allow high level merchandising techniques to be used, like pre-printed restaurant style menus. There's almost no restriction on the menu style or the items served. Use of the VST tool by call center personnel assures that the patient's diet and all individual restrictions are addressed during the ordering process.

Features
HL7 interfaces or keyboard entry are used to create and maintain patient records. Individual patients can be automatically switched between a "room service" menu style and any other type of tray service based on facility protocol, without human intervention.

The department has the flexibility to serve patients from a variety of menu styles — room service, "spoken menu", printed select menus, or non/pre-select menus simultaneously.

Call center personnel can enter patient selections using a mouse or using touch screen technology.

Patient selections can be entered for one meal or for several meals in advance. Selections can be input for up to seven days in advance.

Tray assembly tickets can be printed to as many as four different kitchen work areas. Tickets can be printed immediately after the patient's order is placed, or can be scheduled to be printed in the future. During peak delivery periods, tray assembly tickets can be grouped by nursing station and printed in logical sequence, improving the efficiency of the tray delivery process.

Patient diabetic patterns are displayed on the screen in the call center and values are dynamically incremented as the staff takes the patient's order. The system alerts call center personnel when a patient's selections do not adhere to the meal pattern.

Patients may order guest trays at any time. Guest tray selections can be from the patient menu or from a "Guest Menu". The system calculates the charge for the tray, or a "pre-determined" amount per tray can be charged to the patient and maintained in the record. Charges can be reported at any time.

The call center personnel are alerted to a variety of individual patient restrictions, including allergies, dislikes, and food items that conflict with the patientÍs prescribed medications. No unauthorized food items can be served to the patients.

Call center personnel can input "write-ins" that adhere to the patient's diet and individual restrictions. With a mouse click or a touch, call center personnel may change portion sizes or portion quantities… or they can immediately review the ingredients in a recipe.

Benefits
Increased patient satisfaction. Use of the VST Patient Room Service Tool increases patient satisfaction over traditional menu service methods.

Enhanced image. Room service concepts, along with associated menu and service merchandising, will heighten the image of the nutrition services department and the hospital in the eyes of the patients, physicians, and staff. Competitive influences are augmented.

Reduced late trays. Expensive late trays are almost obviated for those patients on room service style tray delivery. Early trays, hold trays, etc. are significantly reduced.

Accuracy of tray items. Patients receive exactly what they order. Because the order is taken just before tray delivery, menu selections match the current diet order.

Ease of use. The VST Patient Room Service screens accessed by call center personnel are specifically designed for ease of use and rapid entry of patient selections. All relevant patient information is only a "click" or a "touch" away. Entry of menu selections can be accomplished by mouse click or through touch screen technology. The amount of time required to enter a patient's meal selections by call center personnel averages approximately one minute.

Consistent flow of data. The VST Patient Room Service Tool operates in conjunction with all of the associated VST clinical and production modules.

Client/Server or Hosted Internet Delivery. The VST Patient Room Service Tool can be operated in a client/server environment or can be provided as a service over the Internet. If the more modern hosted Internet model is used, the software and services are provided with no capital investment. All HIPAA regulations are exceeded.

Print information from this page plus details on the rest of the Patient Menu Management Tool Kit:

For more information, please call 724.452.8794, send e-mail to info@vstech.com, or contact us online.
Vision Software Technologies, Inc.