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Geriatric malnutrition
Relationship between nutrition and aging
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During my three years as a CNA at Good Samaritan Nursing home. I’ve noticed an increase in the amount of wasted products. I admit that I’m angry and deeply concerned about the waste of water and food at my nursing home. I’ve observed and conclude that wasting products are not only the fault of patients, but also of the members of the staff. After I underline the importance of water and food in our daily life and explain the ways they are wasted I’ll suggest some challenging yet feasible solutions to break the cycle of unnecessary waste.
According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, food and water are basic physiological needs for the body. They are the first needs to establish priorities, which include safety, security, love, self-esteemed and self-actualization. Studies prove that a human deprived of food and water for seventy-two hours has severe dehydration and is unquestionably dying. People of all ages need water and food to stay healthy. As we get older, it becomes somewhat difficult to digest food and water properly, especially for older at nursing homes. Although the foods at Good Samaritan Nursing Home are always delicious and presentable, and the dining room animated, elders don’t eat as much because of the regression of their body systems. Because of this, there is an abundance of foods left in the dining room that goes to waste and to the trash.
Water is also very important to the body. Many people around the world are struggling to find water to drink, and use for basic needs; meanwhile residents and certain members of staff take water for granted and use it inappropriately. I became aware of the improper use of water, initially, when my supervisor assigned me in March 2011 to give a bath to one resident. For on...
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... before, this advice will prevent the spread of infection. Another way that I think wasted water should be reduced is water should always be turned off between rinses, brushing teeth and while doing the dishes. We have to conserve water in America. It can save a lot of money and help our economy.
Overall, Good Samaritan Nursing Home wastes a lot of food and water. I believe those relevant tips and hints can help. I strongly suggest hiring a Dietician-Nutritionist for better understanding about the nutrition problems with very old people that we are calling to serve together. Food and water are basic needs that do not deserved to waste. I hope this will be helpful and the administrator of the facility will working on my recommendations. I am sure with rationalized organization, and self-control the fight against wasting food and water at Good Samaritan can be won.
When residents have been allowed to participate in their diet decisions, they have been found to have increased appetites and enjoyment of food, both of which are equated with quality of life. Alternatively, strict diets have been shown to result in lower intakes leading to weight loss and undernutrition. (Dorner, Niedert, & Welch, 2002). Offering a wide variety of foods with 24/7 access to allows active participation in choosing their own diet. Eliza Jennings homes were assured resident health was not compromised as a result of person-centered care by performing regular Accu-Checks and other diagnostic checks to monitor the health of the residents (“Case Studies in Person-Directed Care”,
Mayo Clinic Staff. "Caregivers." Senior Health: How to Prevent and Detect Malnutrition. N.p., 23 Sept. 2011. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.
This paper will highlight several interventions that have played a significant role in strengthening access to nutrition among the elderly. More importantly, how interventions have been created at the individual, interpersonal, community and societal
No matter what, where, or who you are, water is a necessary component to keeping any organism alive. Although water is essential for life, in many places, clean drinking water is hard to find. There are many consequences to drinking contaminated water. Every year, three to five million people are attacked by water-borne diseases and over 100,000 of them die. One fatal disease that can kill within hours is cholera.
In the ancient world there was an awareness of the need for sanitation and for water that was safe for consumption. Efforts at keeping water pure, maintaining access to waters of high quality, and providing sewage disposal were widely practiced. With the diminish of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the middle ages, these practices were largely forgotten, and infectious illnesses became common. Only with the ascendancy of the scientific method and discoveries in the last one hundred years has the connection between water quality, sanitation, and health once again been discovered.
Water has become a very controversial issue in the United States and around the world. As populations increase and resources decrease, the way we use our resources and keep populations safe become more and more important. Throughout the world there are nearly 1.1 billion people who do not have access the clean drinking water. 5 Most of these 1.1 billion people are located in poor areas and do not have the financial means to build the infrastructures needed to provide water to the citizens of their country. 5 Drinking water is an essential part of our everyday life. People must have water to survive, but it must be clean and safe to consume.
There are many complications that can arise as one ages. As stated in the Aging Concepts and Controversies (2012) book, there are basically two worlds of aging; the ill-derly and the well-derly. While those that are well are able to take care of themselves or need very little help to perform their daily activities; those that are ill most likely we need to have some form of long-term care. As stated earlier, when looking at care options for older adults, there are two forms of care that many people try to decide between. The first option is home care. In this form of long-term care, the elder person is looked after by a spouse, family member such as a child or grandchild, or a close family friend. The other type of long-term care is nursing home or institutionalized care, where the elderly person is taking care of by professionals and lives in the facility where they are being taken care of. Many times it is not easy to decide which type of care will be best, it depends on many factors, such as the cost, level of care needed, and many other factors. Using this paper, I like to briefly look a...
Due to physical frailty and deterioration of mental capacity these residents become vulnerable. According to Bolig G., Gjengedal E., and Rosland JH. (2014) found that dementia residents experience different challenges while living in nursing home such as adapting to their new environment, preserving their dignity and their autonomy. Since a resident suffering from dementia often are confused and loss their ability to perform their everyday task their autonomy are often neglected and questioned which puts the ethical responsibility of a nurse in question. A nurse working in a nursing home face various challenges such as refusal to eat, shower and dealing with aggressive residents to name a few. In the event that a resident refused to take his medications which are necessary for the resident’s condition at that time and the nurse puts the medication on the resident’s sandwich will that be considered a violation of the resident’s right to refuse? If so, if the nurse followed the resident’s wish and had a fall due to failure of giving his medications will that be considered failure in carrying out the nurses duty of care? Wilmot S., Legg L. and Barrat
Yang, Michael L. “Dorms Use Various Methods to Reduce Waste”. Daily Cal. Thurs. 11. November. 1999. http://www.dailycal.org/article/914/dorms_use_various_methods_to_reduce_food_waste
This is because only a small part of the population, particularly in developing countries, have access to water of acceptable quality. It is estimated that in some countries only 20% of the rural population has water of satisfactory quality. Based on these statistics, it is clear the urgent need for awareness about caring for water use. Almost without realizing it, we are seriously jeopardizing this essential resource, not for us but for our children's children and their generations, aware that in other parts o...
Each year about 27% of America’s food gets thrown out, with more than 300 pounds of food per person ending up in the waste stream. The disposal cost of such food exceeds one billion dollars in local tax funds annual...
As we age our bodies change, our abilities to care for our selves lessen and we start to rely more on our caregivers for the proper care. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by 2015 there will nearly 89 million people by 2015 who are 65 years of age of older. This will be almost double the elders there were in 2010. This means that as a nurse we will see an increase in elders in the hospital needing care. A study done in 2009 stated that “64% of caregivers of persons 50 years of age or older with a chronic or disabling condition” (Earlea & Heymann, 2012, p. 359).
The single most important environmental issue today is over-consumerism, which leads to excess waste. We buy too much. We think we always need new and better stuff. Will we ever be satisfied? There will always be something better or cooler on the market. Because we live in a capitalistic consumer culture, we have absorbed things like: “Get it while the getting’s good,” “Offer ends soon, buy while it lasts,” “For great deals, come on down…Sunday Sunday Sunday!” We, kids from 1 to 92, have become saturated with commercials like: Obey your thirst. How much of our consumption is compulsive buying, merely obeying our momentary thirst? Do we actually need all that we buy? Could we survive efficiently, even happily, without making so many shopping center runs? Once after I made a Target run with mom, I noticed that most of the bulkiness within my plastic bags with red targets symbols on them was made up of the products’ packaging. I then thought about all the bags that were piled on the floor near us…all of the bags piled on the floors of many homes throughout America daily.
Water Scarcity is harmful to human life because when water is poorly managed throughout the world, those who need water are deprived of nutrients they truly need causing them to die. This eventually affects the global population. Therefore many experts have proposed several solutions such as the LifeSaver Bottle, TrojanUVPhox treatment system, and Waste Water Recycling.
Developed countries struggle with managing water consumption. Our high demand in agriculture, industry, and domestic use further complicates this issue. With increasing urbanization and extravagant changes in lifestyle, our use and wasting of water will only increase. As of this year, nearly 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water and 2.6 billion live without adequate water sanitation. The McDonald's down the street, however, will sell you a 1/3 pounder burger for only 150 gallons. Changes in lifestyle can easily reduce this number and help not only save water, but money as well. Currently, with our diminishing water supply, one of the main goals of humanitarian organizations is ensuring that everyone has t...