A Study on Factors Affecting the Productivity of Dishwashing Work in Hospital Foodservice Systems

병원급식 식기세정작업 생산성에 영향을 미치는 요인

The productivity of a hospital foodservice system has a significant implication in hospital management as costs for labor and material increase, competitions among hospitals increase, and patients' expectations as to the quality of hospital services increase. The foodservice is characterized by its labor intensiveness. The objective of this study was to examine associations between operational and managerial factors and the productivity of dishwashing work in hospital foodservice systems. The labor productivity in 20 conventional food service systems was assessed and related to a number of influencing variables within the system. The productivity measurement was based upon the total dish equivalents as a ratio of the total direct and non-direct labor hours required to wash these dishes. 20 hospitals with more than 500 beds located in Seoul were surveyed to obtain data for study variables. Questionnaire and a survey form were mailed. Statistical methods used in this study were descriptive analysis and Pearson product moment correlation analysis. Hospital system characteristic which was found to correlate significantly with productivity was the ratio of dish loss. As this increased, the productivity level increased.