US Capital platforms first ever ‘Novartis International Symposium on Nutrition Care’
September 2005, HCI Headquarters, St. Charles, Illinois:
Healthcare Caterers International (HCI), the rapidly expanding collaboration of national healthcare catering and foodservice associations from across the globe, hosted the inaugural ‘Novartis International Symposium on Nutrition Care’ at their 2nd annual meeting held in Washington D.C. from 24-28th July, 2005 in front of an audience approaching 300 healthcare caterers.
The unique format of the Symposium saw the chairpersons of eight of the nine national associations that make up HCI come together as an ‘expert panel’ to compare, contrast and discuss key, pertinent healthcare foodservice challenges, trends and initiatives. Moderated by the Dan McHugh, President of MacAoda Concepts and Consultant to HCI, the Symposium enabled the audience to hear and relate to experiences of like-minded colleagues from regions as diverse as the USA, Australia, UK, Canada, the Middle East and Sweden.
The Symposium was introduced by Mr Kerry Hurff, Director of Marketing – long-term care, Novartis Nutrition Corporation, USA, who represented the sponsor; and was followed by an introduction given by each panel member and the moderator. Eighteen pre-defined questions were posed to the panel, who were given the opportunity to answer individually and on behalf of their respective national association.
Issues and topics raised within the questions covered a broad spectrum of relative healthcare foodservice topics and included:
- Nutrition in the elderly
- Dysphagia
- Renal disease
- Malnutrition
- Diabetes & Obesity
- Homecare
- Menu planning & foodservice delivery
- Food safety
- Budgetary & costing issues
- Staff training & development
Responses from the 300 delegates who attended the Symposium were extremely positive. Robin Gaines, CDM, CFPP from Bartels Lutheran Home, Janesville, Indiana, USA said “This was a great opportunity to have experts from around the world explain both the similarities and differences that we all face in providing nutrition care. Although awareness of certain issues and emerging trends can vary from country to country, hearing the insights provided by colleagues from outside our country better prepares us to deal with these issues as they arise in our own facilities”. In response, Dan McHugh, the Symposium moderator continued the positive feedback “This first symposium was a great success. It served us well as a baseline and will enable future symposiums to be focused more in depth on specific topics that were broadly discussed in Washington, D.C.”
The Symposium took place during the annual Dietary Managers Association Conference, held in Washington D.C. The Symposium delegates had the opportunity to learn not only from the experiences of their own representing association, but also from similar associations worldwide. The panel discussions focused on improving healthcare foodservice provision around the world and ultimately the provision of good nutrition and nutrition care to patients. A pertinent example came from Alison McCree, Chair of the Hospital Caterers Association in the UK, who informed the audience about the ‘Protected Mealtimes Initiative’, which is currently being introduced in her country and aims to improve mealtimes for patients in care settings by ensuring a controlled environment around mealtimes. This is an initiative which other panel members felt would work well in their respective countries and will be discussed further at future HCI meetings.
‘With so much knowledge in the room, it really was an opportunity for everyone there to share information and good practice’ said Kerry Hurff, who continued, ‘Novartis Medical Nutrition is delighted to be the global corporate sponsor of HCI providing a platform to raise the awareness and understanding of key healthcare foodservice issues in the world as well as to identify improvement opportunities.’
As a result of discussions that took place during the symposium, agreement was reached amongst the panel to initiate key follow-on projects, with the aim of building an international understanding of issues that span healthcare foodservice settings worldwide.
Two projects were sited and will be initiated by each panel member in their respective country. The first will examine healthcare foodservice salaries globally, and the second will look at PPD (per patient day) budgets and how they compare in each country. The panel believes that projects like these can only help to improve healthcare foodservice provision around the world and ultimately the provision of good nutrition and nutrition care to patients.
The ‘Novartis International Symposium on Nutrition Care’ will be held annually in conjunction with the HCI meeting.
The next HCI meeting is scheduled to run alongside the Hospital Caterers Association meeting, Birmingham, England in April 2006. The Canadian Society of Nutrition Management will host HCI in Toronto, 2007.