Factors affecting the food quality perception of hospital employees

Catering services in hospitals are an important part of inpatient's treatments. On the other hand it also affects the motivation of hospital employees. Therefore, the quality of catering services for employees and perception of staff are of great importance. Having a catering service of hospitals for improving work life quality and motivation of employees needs a quality specification of this service. This definition should be characterized by national and international food standards and regulations as well as employees' perception of quality. It is critical to determine the factors which are affecting the food quality perception of the employees in order to provide an expression of the type of food service quality in hospitals. For this reason, the hospital managers and the managers of the catering services should be carefully considered in determining the quality of catering services offered to hospital staff. Determining the quality of catering services provided to hospital staff with such a holistic perspective will guide the creation of a significant value in a way that is positive for employees' perceptions. The aim of this study is to determine the factors affecting the perception of the quality of catering services offered to the employees in hospitals. For this purpose, a case study was conducted within the scope of qualitative research method. A semi-structured interview form was used as a data collection tool in the study using the holistic single case pattern. The sample of the study consists of 47 employees, who were working in an educational research hospital in İzmir province which was having a private catering service and done by the sampling method. In addition, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 4 managers of the hospital and 3 of the food company to determine their views and approaches on the quality of catering services. Descriptive analysis was used in the analysis of the data. Research findings, shows that factors affecting the quality of food; such as the quality, hygiene and freshness of the food materials used in the preparation of the meals, how they are cooked, the taste, appearance, portion sizes, nutrient / caloric values, the cleaning of physical material such as the equipment used in the presentation of dishes, the professional characteristics and experience of the food service sector. It was determined that these factors shaped the food quality perception of hospital employees. KeyWords: Quality Perception, Hospital Services, Quality of Catering Services, Internal Customer Satisfaction.