Factors influencing trayline accuracy at long-term care facilities that use tray menus and disposable tray cards

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a difference in number and type of tray line errors between long-term care (L TC) facilities that use individualized tray menus and those using disposable tray cards. Tray errors (i.e., omission, substitution, addition, and wrong condiments) were observed at each of six facilities during one weekday lunch trayline. The dietary manager/supervisor was also interviewed regarding trayline operation and demographic information about trayline employees. There was no significant difference in total number of tray errors between facilities using tray menus and those using disposable tray cards. However, facilities using disposable tray cards had a significantly higher number of substitution errors than facilities using individualized tray menus (P<0.05). Omission errors were found to be higher for facilities using individualized tray menus. A correlation test did not give evidence of a strong association between number of errors and other demographic factors such as employees' education level, speed of tray line, number of tray line employees, and average length of employees' tray line experience.