During the Sodexo Southeastern Regional meeting held in Hilton Head during November, MUSC Sodexo Managers received awards for service excellence. 

"RD Reaching Above and Beyond" Award -  Carrie Finch, MS, RD (Neonatal Dietitian): 

Carrie Finch, MS, RD was the recipient of the "RD Reaching Above and Beyond" award.  During Carrie's role as a Neonatal Dietitian, she has been actively involved in developing an enteral feeding protocol for preterm neonatal ICU patients in an effort to help this infants grow and develop optimally

Brief description of the project:

A standardized enteral feeding protocol for preterm neonatal ICU patients has been developed.  The protocol standardizes the length of time the patient receives trophic feedings, how quickly to advance volume, when to fortify/concentrate feeds, and when to discontinue parenteral nutrition (PN).  Patients’ enteral feeds will be fully fortified before PN is discontinued on the protocol (not currently our practice).  This protocol will also complete our approach to providing aggressive nutrition to preterm infants.  We currently provide early PN, trophic feedings, and increased early protein. 

Expected outcomes/contribution to Sodexho, Sodexho client and/or customers:

Decreased frequency of holding feeds on patients, decreased variability in how feedings are advanced, shorter time to achieve full enteral feeds, decreased duration of parenteral nutrition, decreased risk for line infections, reduced chance of errors in calculating feeding volumes (since orders will be standardized), possibly improved growth and development of patients

Describe how the proposed project supports The Patient Experience, CARES behaviors and/or The Cornerstones.

This project supports the Patient Experience.  Many of our preterm patients are born with “appropriate for gestational age” (AGA) growth parameters, but have fallen below the 10^th percentile (small for gestational age or SGA) on their growth curve by discharge.  Therefore, we are striving to better meet the nutritional needs for our patients.  Standardizing our approach to initiating and advancing enteral feeds will help our patients grow and develop optimally.  “Patients are the Heart of Everything We Do”, and that begins at birth for our little ones.  We can’t afford to get behind on their nutrition.  Not only do we strive to achieve the expected outcomes listed above with the feeding protocol, we want our patients to go home AGA. Avoiding the risks associated with being SGA in our patients means preventing long term health issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and obesity. 

National District Coordinator Recipient -  Randy Teates  MUSC (Sodexo Retail Director)

Sodexo created a District Retail and Culinary Support Coordinator program to aid the Area Support managers in their roles throughout the country. The Retail Director at MUSC, Randy Teates, was recognized by Sodexo as the National District Coordinator Recipient for being the best of all coordinators in the nation.

Mr. Teates conducted Retail Assessments and Gold Checks, aided in the completion of the Unit Retail Business Plan, lead training seminars for new and experienced Retail mangers, and provided on-site support for district units, as well as, new site surveys. In addition to these tasks, he conducted a weekly conference call with the entire district retail team, not just managers, but hourly employees as well. These conference calls started as a means for retail benchmarking, but grew into a “think tank” environment that has fostered “healthy competition” among the units throughout the district.

The work done by Randy has spread into other fields, such as Patient Services and Environmental Services in the form of conference calls and support groups. Randy's innovative ideas have brought value to each program and inspired others to be the best.