Developing a valid meal assessment tool for hospital patients.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Nutrition Science
• Patient Experience Research

Background:

• Patient perspectives are vital for effective hospital meal planning.
• Existing tools may not adequately capture nuanced patient views on meal quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a reliable Meal Assessment Tool (MAT).
• To enable quick and accurate assessment of patient opinions on meal items for large trials.

Main Methods:

• Iterative development and testing of the MAT for content and construct validity.
• Patient interviews to assess validity, ease of use, and completion time.
• Incorporation of a 7-point scale for meal components (meat, starch, vegetable) and attributes (flavor, appearance, quality).

Main Results:

• The MAT demonstrated validity and reliability in a large acute care hospital setting.
• Interviews proved to be the most efficient completion method (2-5 minutes).
• The tool successfully discriminated between meal variations and preparation methods in a multi-center trial (n=14,500).

Conclusions:

• The validated Meal Assessment Tool (MAT) effectively assesses patient satisfaction with hospital meals.
• The MAT is a valuable instrument for healthcare providers to optimize meal planning and quality.
• The tool's ability to detect subtle differences supports evidence-based improvements in foodservice.