Dietetic performance indicators: a new management tool.

The need for dietetic performance indicators that more accurately reflect the performance of the department of dietetics has led to the development of an effective tool for directors of dietetics to use in monitoring departmental performance, planning departmental activities, services and programs, and budgeting. To follow-up on the work initiated by a group of directors of dietetics in Metropolitan Toronto, the joint Ontario Dietetic Association-Ontario Hospital Association (ODA-OHA) Steering Committee on Alternative Dietetic Performance Indicators (SCADPI) was established. The work of this Committee has involved identifying relevant dietetic performance indicators based on three areas of departmental activity: patient meal service, non-patient meal service, and clinical nutrition service; developing the methodology of allocating food, sundry, and labor costs to these three areas of departmental activity; and testing the validity and feasibility of the methodology among hospitals of varying sizes and levels of dietary department management personnel.