Patient Relations
Patients can now order breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a few taps of their smartphone.
Inpatients at every Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare (JHAH) hospital can now order meals on demand via their smartphone, a quick phone call, or with the help of a dietary assistant.
Room service is now available in all inpatient wards at JHAH, giving patients greater freedom to choose how and when they eat.
It really felt like I was in a hotel. I picked the food I liked, chose when to eat, and it came right on time. The meals were tasty, and it was all so easy and comfortable.
I liked that I could see pictures of the food and order right from my phone using MyChart. It made me feel more in control and relaxed during my stay.
Lamia Alzayer, Senior Director, Specialized Therapy & Clinical Services, said: “The room service program supports healing through nutrition while giving patients the flexibility to choose the meals and mealtimes that suit them best. This program is helping us to improve patient satisfaction, optimize patients’ nutritional intake, and reduce food waste.”
Fatimah Al Dubais, Food Services Lead, Specialized Therapy & Clinical Services, said:
Patient comfort is at the heart of everything we do, and the room service program is an important milestone in enhancing the patient experience at JHAH.
The room service initiative allows physicians to input diet requirements for each individual patient based on their health condition. These requirements are then automatically translated into personalized meal options for the patient.
Patients can order meals via their smartphone or tablet computer using the MyChart app. The ordering service features real photos of the dishes, with 10 choices available for lunch and dinner, and seven choices for breakfast. Alternatively, patients can telephone a call center to order their meal. They can also ask an assistant to show them the menu on an iPad and secure their order.
Patients then choose which meal they would like and when they would like it delivered. They can order up to two days in advance for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Meals are delivered by specialist hospitality staff rather than nurses, allowing nurses to spend more time on medical care for patients.
The early indications are that room service is making patients happier, with improved patient satisfaction scores noted in two wards at JHAH. In one ward, patient satisfaction rose to 87% in March 2025, after room service went live from 79% in July 2024, before room service went live. In another ward, satisfaction climbed to 89% from 80% comparing the same periods.
The new room service system uses CBORD Room Service, a software program that integrates with Epic, the medical records software system, and MyChart. JHAH is the first hospital in the Middle East to implement a MyChart-integrated CBORD Room Service solution.
Qais Al Ismail, Project Lead for CBORD Room Service, said: “Integrating CBORD with Epic and MyChart allows us to deliver personalized, timely meals that support healing and improve patient satisfaction. We’re proud to be the first hospital in the region to integrate the CBORD Room Service system with Epic and MyChart.”