Adequate Nutrition In Nursing

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Adequate nutrition has always been a factor in the care for the sick. Florence Nightingale mentions in her book “Notes on Nursing” that proper diet is an essential to healing along with cleanliness and fresh air (Nightingale, 1860, p.8). There have been many ways to feed the ill and the first instance of a feeding tube appeared in ancient Egypt when reeds and animal bladders were used to give the sick a mixture of wine, chicken broth and raw eggs. Documentation of a healer using a hollowed whale bone to feed an ill patient in 1793 also proved further use of feeding tubes throughout history (Greene, 2005). These methods were not standard practice until the 20th century. Especially on battlefields where supplies and time were limited, the injured …show more content…

The invalid feeder continued to be used throughout wars in the 1800’s and into the beginning of the 1900’s. The American Journal of Nursing detailed a list of essential items for a private duty nurse in 1901, which included “Clinical and bath thermometers, hypodermic syringe with tablets, graduate glass, rectal tube, catheter, invalid drinking-cup, and what is found a great convenience, a very small alarm clock” (Hay, 1901). Just as important for the nurse to have was a medical dictionary and an invalid cook book, that supplied recipes for the “preparation of foods for invalids to provide food which will contain a sufficient amount of proper nourishment, and to serve it in a manner as will please the eye of the invalid and stimulate the appetite and the mind” (Barrows, 1905). During times of peace the focus of feeding the invalid was placed on maximizing nutritional value and having the patient want to consume what was prepared for them. Some meals during this time included cream of chicken soup, lemon ice, beef juice, and chicken jelly (Barrows,1905). An article in The American Journal of Nursing explored the value of adding fruit to a diet, “the cooling, appetizing and refreshing qualities of fresh fruits give them an increased value in invalid diet” (Fewell, 1920). The author also mentioned the benefits of the laxative properties of fruit as well as the multitude of ways in which they can be prepared so they would be appetizing to a greater patient population (Fewell,

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