Every team member can watch these factors in the dining room, including the administrators. One should not forget to visit the residents who are eating in their rooms, to check positioning and appetite. These residents are often forgotten. The dietary staff needs to use standardized recipes and that includes the use of salt and other seasoning. Food that tastes good is very important to the enjoyment of a meal.
Special occasions bring joy and fun to meal time.
Special meals once a month are a change in routine and just plain fun. After all, eating is usually the high point of the day for residents and they should enjoy it. A dining room with attractive furnishings is a marketing tool, as well as a pleasant place in which to eat. If prospective families are brought into the dining room and see food attractively served and the residents eating, they feel better about nursing home placement. One administrator told this writer that the residents have two basic concerns when they come to the nursing home.