Reference no: EM133241474

Case study

"Sharika is the chief dietitian at St. Catherine's Community Hospital. She was working on the employee schedule in her office one day when the head administrator, Bob Jackson, came by to speak to her. He told Sharika that Mrs. Valencia Wellstone, a very wealthy woman and possible benefactor, had just been admitted to the sixth floor. He strongly expressed the need for special treatment and told Sharika that she should provide Mrs. Wellstone with any food she desired and should deliver all of Mrs. Wellstone' s meals personally. Sharika was taken aback by this expectation and asked what should be done on her days off. Bob informed Sharika that there would be no days off while Mrs. Wellstone was in the hospital. He indicated that Mrs. Wellstone had the potential to donate a large sum of money to the hospital and her stay at the facility must be as favorable as possible. Sharika asked what the admitting diagnosis and diet order was, and Bob did not know. After Bob left, Sharika sighed. She had so much work to do already, and there were plenty of low-income patients in the hospital who really needed intervention since they would not be able to afford healthcare once they were discharged. She shrugged and made her way up to the sixth floor to talk to Mrs. Wellstone. When she checked the chart, she saw that Mrs. Wellstone was admitted for difficulty in breathing secondary to metastatic lung cancer. She had been prescribed myriad drugs and was receiving chemotherapy. Luckily, she was placed on a regular diet. Admission notes indicated that Mrs. Wellstone lived in New York but was visiting Miami when her acute symptoms occurred. A knot formed in Sharika' s stomach because she knew this patient had a poor prognosis and was not likely to feel much like eating. She went in to talk to Mrs. Wellstone and found that she was accompanied by her full-time caregiver and aide, Maria Gomez. Sharika asked Mrs. Wellstone how she was feeling. Mrs. Wellstone replied that she was tired and disappointed to be in a hospital so far from home. Sharika obtained food preferences from Mrs. Wellstone and developed some menus based on those preferences, which Mrs. Wellstone approved. Over the course of the next seven days, Sharika brought all the food trays to Mrs. Wellstone and had special meals prepared to her liking, some of which required the purchase of special foods from local markets. The chefs were actually enjoying the chance to make some more difficult and interesting food items, but it certainly put a strain on staffing. Sharika enjoyed getting to know Mrs. Wellstone but felt frustrated by the need to deliver all the trays. She would often have to leave a diet instruction or consultation before it was completed so she could pick up the food tray for Mrs. Wellstone from the kitchen FCS 318 Foodservice Management 3 and deliver it to her. On two occasions, she forgot temporarily, and the tray was sitting in the kitchen longer than desired. On day seven, Bob stopped in to see Sharika. He explained that Mrs. Wellstone was complaining about the food to her assistant and a nurse overheard the conversation. Bob seemed visibly upset and was using an accusatory tone of voice. He stated in no uncertain terms that Sharika needed to rectify this situation and finished his diatribe with, "If you can't provide food that is acceptable to Mrs. Wellstone, I'm sure we can find someone else who will!" Sharika was stunned. She immediately went up to talk to Maria Gomez, Mrs. Wellstone's caregiver. Maria stated that Mrs. Wellstone was very depressed, and her health was failing. Sharika had checked the medical record prior to the visit and it confirmed the downward trend. When Sharika asked about Mrs. Wellstone' s satisfaction with the food, Maria indicated that there wasn't much that could make Mrs. Wellstone happy right now. She admitted that her food consumption had dropped, and she was really just nibbling at her meals. Sharika took Mrs. Wellstone's hand and asked her if there was anything more she could do for her. Mrs. Wellstone simply said she was fine and needed to rest. Sharika returned to her office, totally frustrated. She couldn't imagine what she could do to improve Mrs. Wellstone's perception of the food and felt her job was at stake. What in the world should she do"?

Questions

1. Is Mrs. Wellstone's lack of satisfaction with the food a good indicator of the food quality? What else might be influencing her perceptions of the food?

2. Was it a good decision to have Sharika deliver the trays to Mrs. Wellstone rather than having the regular hosts and hostesses deliver them? Defend your answer.

3. How can Sharika make sure she does not forget to deliver the trays to Mrs. Wellstone as soon as they are ready?

4. What specific problems does Sharika face at this point?

5. What should she do to address this difficult situation?

6. How might employees react to the obvious "special treatment" this wealthy patient is receiving? Can this practice be defended?