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Productivity Study Patient Tray Line
Productivity Study Patient Tray Line
Productivity Study Patient Tray Line
Sara Foster
an Acute Care Facility and is monitored for quality assurance (Food and Nutrition). Three
meals are prepared each day to serve patients. Meals are prepared and delivered to all
hospital units to be handed out to patients. Meals for every diet type are assembled on the
patient tray line located in the foodservice kitchen. Tray tickets are used to verify the correct
food items during tray preparation. Food is portioned onto meal trays from individual stations
as the tray moves down the circular conveyor belt (See Appendix A for tray line layout).
Tickets begin at the Tray station, where a worker will initiate meal assembly by
placing a tray on the line, along with disposable cutlery and condiments. This person is
responsible for calling out special orders a ticket may have to let the other stations aware
before the tray reaches them. Special orders include items such as nutritional supplements,
broths, or soups.
Following the Tray Station is the Dessert Station. Desserts are available for all diet
types and are only provided at lunch and evening meals. The Beverage station is directly
beside and falls in line with the Dessert station. Beverages are available for all diet types,
including thickened beverages and nutrition supplements. After the tray passes the Dessert
and Beverage Stations, it enters into Hot Food Station #1 where the worker there will begin
plating the food. Hot Food Station #1 includes two entrees, including pureed, bite-size, and
rice size of each entrée. This station also provides the starchy side items. From Hot Food #1
the tray goes immediately into Hot Food Station #2 which includes two vegetables, pureed,
bite-size, and rice size options for each vegetable, bread items, soups, and broths. The server
at Hot Foods #2 adds to the plate that began at Hot Foods #1.
Once a tray makes it past Hot Foods #2 it passes the Leader Station where a Team
Leader checks the accuracy of each tray against the diet order and the foods listed on the tray
THE PRODUCTIVITY OF PATIENT 3
ticket. When the Leader discovers an issue with a tray the conveyer belt is usually stopped,
halting tray line productivity long enough to correct the issue. When a requested food item is
unavailable, a substitution is made, and a stamp is placed on the ticket stating the requested
When a tray is accurately completed and checked by the leader, it is then loaded onto
the cart that transports the trays up to patient units. Trays are loaded at the Loader Station.
The loader numerically places the trays in the cart so that the tickets containing the patient
Productivity is calculated with the total number of trays produced divided by the minutes
spent on the line. For example, at breakfast the tray line ran from 6:32 am to 7:26 am, with a
total of 67 minutes, producing 307 trays. When 307 (trays) is divided by 67 (minutes), it
equals to 4.58 trays per minute. The average number of trays is 4 per minute (Gregoire &
Theis, 2015).
Observation of tray line production reveals above average productivity when trays per
minute are measured. Each station repeatedly appears to operate accurately and efficiently.
Trayline staff works hard to ensure that quality control measures are maintained for each
meal service. One recommendation would be to consider expanding the Hot Food serving
area to cover three stations rather than two for lunch and dinner meals. Hot food items could
be held in the containers, between Hot Food #2 and the Leader Station (See Appendix B for
recommended tray line layout) that are empty during lunch and dinner service.
Hot Food Station #1 appears to be one of the hardest positions to maintain. The
worker at this station must ensure there are hot plates available to place the food on, keep the
hot food items stocked on the line, and continuously pulling from the heater located directly
THE PRODUCTIVITY OF PATIENT 4
behind the station. This station is important as it contains texture modified foods that must be
accurately placed according to tray tickets. There are two entrée options, and each entrée also
have three texture modified options. In addition to the entrée, there is an alternate entrée such
hamburgers, the starchy vegetables and their texture modification options that are served
If hot food items are divided into three sections rather than two, it could help improve
productivity further. Hot Food Station #1 could include both entrees, their modified options,
and the alternative entrée. Hot Food #2 could contain starchy vegetables and their texture
modification options along with soups, broths, and gravies. Hot Food #3 could have the
remaining vegetables with their texture modified options plus the bread options. There are
potential downfalls to this recommendation such as overcrowding on the tray line and the
expense of additional labor to work the extra station for lunch and dinner meal service.
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References
Food and Nutrition Services Department. Forrest General Hospital Departmental Policy
Gregoire, M. B., & Theis, M. L. (2015). Practice paper of the academy of nutrition and
21st century health care reform era. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and
Appendix A
Appendix B