HOSPITAL
DUKE
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BTffi
VOL. 4, NO. 8
JUNE, 1958
DURHAM, N. C.
DIETETICS
Science and Art
Wluit is the function of a hosi)ital
dietetics department? Miss Esther
Ratliff, Director of the Department of
Dietetics at the Duke T'niversity Med
ical Center, answers this iuestion:
“The first consideration is to nu>et
the nutritional needs of the patients,
including modifications of noriiial
diets, and to meet the nutritional
needs of the staff and personnel.”
Traushited into how nuniy ])laces to
set at tlu‘ table, this means over 1500
meals ]ier day for patients and an
other 1500 (breakfast, liuich, dinner
and midnirht lunch) to be served in
tiie Stair Dininr Room and the Em-
])loyees’ Dininr Room—a ■jrand total
of a])proximately 100,000 meals a
month. For an average morninfj’s
breakfast 150 dozen e}?^rs are re(pusi-
tioiu'd. When hamburgers are on the
menu for the entire house it takes 400
pounds of rround beef. One hundred
and ten fryers must be cut up to pro
vide fried chicken for the staff cafe
teria alone. The cooks will use 250
l)onnds of potatoes for a noon meal.
The bake sho]> will bake 155 blueberry
])ies (for patients) and 15 blueberry
cobblers, 45 servinfrs each, (for cafe
terias) for an evening meal. This re-
({uires four :30-pound cans of frozen
blueberries. When baked sliced tur
key is served at Simday dinner, it
takes twenty-five 25-pound turkeys
(()25 pounds of turkey).
The dietitian’s work is many facet
ed : menu-making and food purchas
ing which involves food specifications
Duke Photo by Spark.s
THE DIETETICS STAFF panel-tests a loaf of salt-free bread. Left to right: Mary
Catherine Male, Dorothy Falcone, Helen McLachlan, Esther Ratliff, Margaret Ann Brown,
Margaret Presley, Shirley Manning, Barbara Raby, Nancy Curtis.
and recjuisitioning; planning layouts
and purchasing equipment for food
areas; sanitation in all food areas;
personnel management and employee
training—the Duke Department of
Dietetics has a staff of 8 and over 190
emj)loy('('s. In addition to these phases
of the work which relate directly to
the preparation of food, a department
of dietetics affiliated with a teaching
institution, itself nuist carry a size
able teaching load.
In Duke Hospital one-third of the
])atients are on modified diets. The
Department of Dietetics is engaged in
the ])re])aration of a new diet manual.
Selective menus are now in use on
all private patient floors. Presented
on the breakfast tray, the selective
meini carries the choices for the fol
lowing day’s lunch and dinner and
for breakfast the morning after that.
This allows adequate time for recpusi-
tioning of necessary foods. Plans are
underway for opening the Ambula
tory Cafeteria on the third floor of
the new wing. This cafeteria will ac
commodate 90 patients. The tray as
sembly belt on the second floor of the
new wing now serves Hanes, Minot,
Reed and Cushing wards—approxi
mately 1()0 trays. This belt is flanked
on one side by containers for hot food
and on the other by refrigerators for
cold food. A tray can be assembled
in one and one half minutes. Trays
for the second floor are delivered on
rolling carts which will carry six
trays each. Those for the third floor
move automatically off the tray as
sembly belt onto a belt which places
them in a vertical Trayveyor to be
carried to the third floor. Soiled
travs and dishes are sent down on