Mobile Technology for Hospital Food Service
By Margaret Dittloff, MS, RD
Chair, Nutrition Informatics Committee, 2012–2013
I just got
back from the Association
for Healthcare Foodservice annual
conference, where top self-op food service professionals from across the
country and vendors shared information on the latest trends and challenges
facing the industry. While technology was not the primary focus of the week, it
was ever present—from the trade show floor, featuring the latest high-tech
equipment and handheld and tablet applications to make ordering, producing, and
tracking meals and inventory easier to sessions on benchmarking to help
operators assess their productivity.
A multiple
of educational sessions focused entirely on mobile technologies. Everyone is
looking for ways to provide better services with declining resources, and
handheld or mobile technologies are one part of that solution for many
hospitals. According to a recent
report published by Kalorama Information, hospitals are
investing in handheld and tablet technologies in two market segments—patient
monitoring devices and administrative devices. Both areas ultimately intend to
improve health care efficiency by streamlining work flow and providing
immediate access to patient information, which ultimately can improve patient
care.
As the
growth and adoption of mobile medical apps aimed at consumers grow, we should
expect to see similar growth and use of mobile handheld and tablet technologies
in the health care workplace as well.
Post a
response to this blog and let us know what mobile technologies you are seeing
in your workplace.