By Michael Holmstrom

A new trend is emerging in the healthcare Industry which has many patients and visitors smiling. Faced with improving their lagging patient satisfaction levels, many hospitals are adapting a hotel style model of hospitality, with related amenities such as valet parking, greeters, courtesy shuttles, and concierge services. While one would normally only expect to find such luxuries at the finer hotels in the world, they are now being delivered every day at more and more hospitals throughout the country. The demand is so great that several companies have chosen to fill the fast growing niche by specializing in hospitality type services specifically for the health care industry.

Not only do the services provide added convenience for patients and visitors, but they can also solve a variety of challenges related to new construction and state mandated seismic upgrade projects which many hospitals are dealing with. If you’re still not convinced, Here’s are some other reasons why it might pay to incorporate a few health care hospitality solutions…

Scoring Higher on Patient Surveys

Surveys have shown that hospital facilities which deliver extra amenities such as valet parking, patient concierge service and other hospitality related services score higher on patient satisfaction surveys such as HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and Systems), a national, standardized survey of hospital patients. Patients who receive stress-relieving services such as valet parking and concierge are more likely to give favorable overall ratings to the hospital, and would be more likely to recommend the hospital to friends and family.

A Patient Safety Culture

In 2004, the Health Care Leadership Alliance, which includes the American Association of Nurse Executives and other health care executives, identified a core set of competencies for executive leaders in health care. Within the context of the core competencies, seven imperatives were identified to develop a patient safety culture and a model of proactive safety was developed which infers that everyone’s job is patient safety, in all health care system transactions; this safety mission involves the entire health care team and should include everyone from the physician to the valet parking attendant. The valet and concierge services can play a vital role in the patient safety process and hospitals without these services may be missing an important element to their culture of safety initiative.

Drawing Privately Insured Patients

The AP/San Francisco Chronicle recently examined the new trend of hospitals providing extra incentives to “lure in” patients covered by private insurance, which pays higher reimbursement than government programs such as Medicare or Medicaid. According to the AP/Chronicle, hospitals “are finding it pays to pump up perks” for visitors, such as cooking classes, patient concierges, internet access and valet parking. Hospital leaders say “these extra touches all have a purpose, including stress relief.”

According to the AP/Chronicle, competition also plays a role in the hospitals adding extra benefits. “If a patient has a free choice to go to this hospital or that hospital, they’re going to choose the one that has the better amenities”. Rick Gundling, a vice president for the Health Care Financial Management Association, said that extra amenities help attract physicians, who in turn bring in more patients.

At the end of the day, every Hospital has different needs, but they can usually all agree on one thing – patient care is the priority. If that’s true, then its easy to see why nearly every Hospital in the country has “Health Care Hospitality” programs at the top of their To-Do Lists.

Michael Holmstrom is the Founder and President of Signature Parking for Healthcare which provides Parking Hospitality Solutions exclusively for the Healthcare industry throughout the United States.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2231434

Health Care Hospitality Pays is a post from: Bubble Economy News 2.0 Find us in the Brisbane Business Directory. Provided by WordPress Tutorials.

By Bhupendra Dwivedi

Executive Chef Job Features

Demonstration cooking, pricing as well as development of culinary team in addition to menu development are some of the features of the Executive jobs. Supervising kitchen personnel, the executive carries out the responsibilities of hiring and disciplining them. To achieve this objective the chef carries out regular reviews and personnel management.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities entrusted to executive include-

• Training and management of kitchen personnel;

• Supervision and coordination of all related culinary activities;

• Estimating consumption of food and accordingly requisitioning and purchasing food;

• Selection and development of recipes to attract and satisfy customers;

• Standardization of production recipes ensuring consistent quality of the recipes;

• Establishment of high quality standards by planning and pricing of the menus;

• Ensuring proper equipment maintenance and operations; and

• Safety arrangements in the kitchen.

Additional Responsibilities

Additional responsibilities that are often entrusted to the executive include selection of items for cooking and also selection of special occasions for particular recipes. Organizing special catering events and offering culinary instructions and demonstration of culinary techniques are some of the major tasks that are often entrusted to them. Usually the chef will report to a food director in the organization.

Required and Qualification and Experiences

Major requirements for the executive chef would be management of diverse environments that would focus on the client as well as the customer services ensuring overall success of the organization. Previous experience for control of food as well as labor costs, demonstration cooking, menu development, and pricing development could be great assets for the job of executive chef. Ideal educational qualification for the job would be bachelor’s degree or corresponding culinary degree and around eight to ten years of experience in the industry.

Overview of Executive Chef Job

Executive chef job description is all about management, planning and leadership in diverse environments. It not only includes recipe, event, and stores management but at the same time also involves human resource management in and around the kitchen. Understanding the job of the executive chef would help the prospective candidate to decide the path to follow in their career search in the field of corporate hospitality industry; the greatest absorber of the candidates in the field.

Kitchen work in restaurants, hotels, corporate offices, canteens, lounges and all such places is just not about the bartender, receptionist, and dishwasher. Higher rated jobs of executive chef are also a part of it with higher responsibilities. Career search becomes comparatively easier by viewing the Executive Chef jobs offered on the State university website, one of the most informative website for career information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4000525

Executive Chef Job Description – Diverse Environment Management is a post from: Bubble Economy News 2.0 Find us in the Brisbane Business Directory. Provided by WordPress Tutorials.

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The worst thing that can happen in a business is competition. This may lead to decrease in profits and worst is bankruptcy. These can be avoided as soon as sustainability planning should be reinforced. Part of the planning should be focused on the society. The society is your client and your business partners make sure that your plan should give emphasis on the benefits that your clients get.

Another part of your planning should give importance to the environment. This will be a ways for you to contribute to the environment at the same time attract more clients. With these plans in mind start thinking about the other benefits that your company can acquire. Questions may arise like: how long will the planning succeed? Are there any options if you fail? These are some questions that have to be answered and anticipated to create a much stable business. Sustainability planning should always be a part of every business to avoid any major problems in the future.

Sustainability Planning Is Looking What Is Beyond The Future Of Your Business is a post from: Bubble Economy News 2.0 Find us in the Brisbane Business Directory. Provided by WordPress Tutorials.

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Nowadays more people are concerned about the environment that they create efforts to be involved in saving it. Big businesses take part in conserving the environment through corporate sustainability. This act of concern for the environment does not only apply to the factors concerning the environment but also to the society, the economy and the cultural factors. Here are some reasons why this act should be practiced by big businesses or corporations. Workers are now looking beyond big salaries and benefits from the company that they will be working. The company’s environmental concern will definitely attract good employees at the same time a good effect on the customers as well. Most people would prefer products or services that care for the environment over products which do not. They believe that in their own simple way they can be of help to the environment. Corporate sustainability is playing a big role in the environment as well as in the society.

Corporate Sustainability Plays A Major Role In Keeping The Environment At The Same Time Benefits The Society is a post from: Bubble Economy News 2.0 Find us in the Brisbane Business Directory. Provided by WordPress Tutorials.

Water conservation has continued to be the main solution for water scarcity that gave people the idea of using water tanks and other water storage containers to store water for future needs. Obviously, these tanks are used mainly to store free water, which is rainwater, to be used for extra activities like gardening, watering the lawns and yards, cleaning cars, filling up home pools or even kid’s paddling pools, flushing the toilet, and even sometimes washing clothes. With them, people have found a way to never deprive themselves in using water for their extra needs and anytime, as much as they want. This has been an issue in countries like Australia where water restrictions are promulgated because of the excessive dry season that they experience over there.

Well, these tanks come in varieties and are even made with different materials. The most common type is those steel tanks which are placed outside the homes to directly fetch water and store it. However, these types of tanks have downsides with regards to hygienic issues; and that is the main reason that led manufacturers to make use of poly tanks instead in storing and keeping rainwater. The innovation was implemented to promote hygienic and anti-corrosive way of saving water which can save you more money compared to having steel tanks at home.

Poly water tanks are mainly composed of plastic and fiber. And with that, it is obviously one way of getting rid of rust accumulation as time goes by when the water storage system becomes older. Aside from steel tanks, there were also tanks made of concrete cements which are more questionable to storing clean water supply. Well, rainwater is not as clean as the provided city water supply; however, since it is free and comes directly from the sky, we would want it to be kept without the combination of grimes and other unwanted materials which are from the containers themselves. We would want it to be kept clean as much as we can because some people even resort to using rainwater for drinking especially if there are water interruptions and worst water inadequacy conditions. But of course, directly drinking rainwater is very much not advisable. Proper purification and distillation process should be observed.

The advantages of polymer coated tanks are their being light weight compared to steel tanks, next is their anti-corrosive and rust-free property, and third is their ability to store almost anything without having to worry about cleanliness issue. The only flaw of poly water tank is its disability to store harsh acids that may cause for it to melt. Well, steel tanks cannot store harsh chemicals as well, depending on the chemical’s acidity level; but concrete water tanks can.

Actually, water tanks come in different sizes. There are large, medium, and even small water tanks are available to save you space at home. It all depends on your needs, so you do not have to worry of having narrow spaces in your area. There are even water tanks that are installed underground to save you more space, but would require much more of a professional help in installation.

So to conclude, water tanks have shown great compliance in solving water inadequacy problems through time. Their usefulness has been widely experienced in places where water is not enough, and their worth has been recognized worldwide. It truly does not matter if you choose any type of water tank that you like; what is important is to have a cleaning schedule for the tank to avoid water contamination.

Are Poly Tanks the Best Option to Saving Rainwater? is a post from: Bubble Economy News 2.0 Find us in the Brisbane Business Directory. Provided by WordPress Tutorials.