Sea Crest Health Care Center

Yup, there’s actually such a title. A recent Wall Street Journal article highlighted the growth of a new genre – upscale, more palatable cuisine now offered in healthcare facilities.

The typical hospital fare such as jello, soggy sandwiches and tasteless chow that we’re all familiar with, seems to be a thing of the past.  Think Machaca Steak with Sauce and Curried Banana Pierogi. Hospitals are now competing with the likes of five-star hotels and restaurants by installing sushi stations, organic salad bars and pizza ovens.

The National Society for Healthcare Foodservice Management recently launched an annual cooking competition. “We want to show the world that health-care food is so much different. It can be creative. It can dazzle,” said Betty Perez, a society board member and a hospital food administrator in New Jersey. “We have chefs that can compete with the best of them.”

However, hospital chefs must play by different rules than their glitzy restaurant counterparts. Their creative offerings must be in tune with doctors orders, as well as nutritionists and cost-sensitive food administrators.

600 calories, 20 grams of fat, and 1,000 milligrams of sodium were the max for each contest dish and the production cost per dish could not exceed $5.

So pass the Green Apple-Jicama Slaw and enjoy your stay.

Love it when the  different passions of my life converge and… beg for a creative solution.

Fashion, the Health Care Universe and Marketing all came together in Lucette Lagnado’s article in The Wall St. Journal. So Doctors and Hospitals still haven’t whipped up an all-encompassing solution to the dressing gown we all love to hate… Aside from making me smile, I’m gonna whip Ad Lib Unlimited’s   designers into a designing frenzy to come up with a sharp “cover-up” that should cover all bases.

Read full article at WSJ.com.

by Staff

Clostridium difficile.

The name might be unfamiliar, but the pathogen is on the rise. There has been a sharp increase in the prevalence of C. diff in hospitals around the country, according to a survey taken in 648 hospitals in 47 states.

As many as 13 out of every 1,000 patients tested positive for Clostridium difficile, with 94% showing symptoms of the accompanying disease: diarrhea, fever, appetite loss, nausea, and stomach pain. About 4% of patients will die from the disease.

How does this compare to C. diff levels in the past? Between 2000 and 2005, the number has more than doubled.

This may be partially due to prescription techniques. C. diff isn’t affected by most antibiotics, so broad spectrum antibiotics, which kill all other bacteria, give C. diff room to grow and thrive. Whenever possible, physicians should prescribe narrowly targeted antibiotics, to prevent C. diff from expanding unchecked.

Based on an article by Jacob Goldstein in the WSJ

by Staff

Clostridium difficile.

The name might be unfamiliar, but the pathogen is on the rise. There has been a sharp increase in the prevalence of C. diff in hospitals around the country, according to a survey taken in 648 hospitals in 47 states.

As many as 13 out of every 1,000 patients tested positive for Clostridium difficile, with 94% showing symptoms of the accompanying disease: diarrhea, fever, appetite loss, nausea, and stomach pain. About 4% of patients will die from the disease.

How does this compare to C. diff levels in the past? Between 2000 and 2005, the number has more than doubled.

This may be partially due to prescription techniques. C. diff isn’t affected by most antibiotics, so broad spectrum antibiotics, which kill all other bacteria, give C. diff room to grow and thrive. Whenever possible, physicians should prescribe narrowly targeted antibiotics, to prevent C. diff from expanding unchecked.

Based on an article by Jacob Goldstein in the WSJ