Patient Mealtime Experience: Capturing Patient Perceptions Using a Novel Patient Mealtime Experience Tool.

Mealtime experience in the hospital has a significant impact on oral intake and patients' wider perception of hospital services. Questionnaires have been used to capture patient satisfaction with foodservice in the hospital; however, no comprehensive questionnaires including qualitative questions that capture the broader mealtime experience have been validated across different hospital settings. The tool developed through this study can be implemented in any acute and subacute health service to provide feedback and improve the mealtime experience of patients. This has the capacity to improve mealtime intake, mitigate malnutrition, and improve quality of life and patient outcomes.