The St. Luke's room service staff delivers about 400 meals daily to patients who have the consent from their doctors to eat. It's nice that you can choose from a variety of things. It's also great being able to call in my order after I've had tests so the food is warm when I eat it and not cold from sitting in my room while I'm gone. The room service concept originated in 1996 at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston to satisfy the special needs of cancer patients. Hospital patients often undergo a variety of treatments that affect their appetites.
Room service gives patients the ability to order what they feel like eating.
Each meal is personalized because it's cooked to order, and all meals are delivered within 45 minutes. The patient simply picks up the phone in his or her room, dials a three-digit number and orders off the menu. Using the hotel model of room service not only benefits patients, but also the hospital. By allowing patients to order what sounds appealing to them and letting them do so when they feel like eating, less food is wasted. This, by itself, represents potential savings of nearly 35 percent in food costs a year.