Internet of Things as an Innovative Platform to Enhance the Efficiency and Safety of Healthy Food in Public Hospitals in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Food safety and operational efficiency are critical challenges in public hospitals, where maintaining high standards is essential to patient health. The purpose of this research was to assess how the application of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies has improved food safety and nutritional standard attainment as well as service delivery in Saudi Arabian public hospitals. Challenges such as monitoring of temperature, usage of RFID tags, and hygiene monitoring were solved by IoT devices including the temperature sensors, RFID tags and hygiene monitors placed in kitchens, storage areas and dining areas respectively. The method used in this study is experimental because IoT systems were implemented in the environment of hospital food services. Temperature accuracy, for example, hygiene compliance, and portion control were tracked over a period of six months, or availability of food through-out the day. Quantitative data were obtained through IoT devices, manual observations and feedback surveys and then statistics tools such as paired T-test, ANOVA were applied to exhibit the improvements. These outcomes proved the idea of significant improvements in food safety and organizational effectiveness. Temperature accuracy was enhanced by 95%, foodborne ill incidences decreased by 81.25%, and finally, hygiene score by 31.94%. From an operational perspective, there were certain gains - meal delivery time reduced by 44.44%, while wastage reduced by 60% and inventory accuracy was up by 25.64%. There is improvement in patient satisfaction indicators in terms of meal quality, time, and nutritional value Nutrition surveillance expense declined because wastage, regulatory compliance costs were decreased and garnered additional annual revenues of USD 15,000. Hence, IoT systems helped in improving the food service processes, safety indices and the quality of patient satisfaction. Nevertheless, it is imperative to give attention to the problems like staff training and high initial costs at the present stage. The following recommendations are meant for future plans: To deepen IoT usage across more hospitals systematically, continuous training should be provided and connectivity should be improved to sustain IoT’s benefits. This research points out to the various ways in which IoT is likely to offer significant value in healthcare food services.