Nursing: Nutrition In Nursing

Nutrition in Nursing

While many factors can affect a patient’s health, nutrition is one of the most crucial components of a patient’s care and prevention from illness, such as cancer. Potter & Perry (2013) states that “nutrition is the process by which the body uses food” (p. 996). While this is true, in order to fully understand the concept, one must also understand that malnutrition “is a condition resulting from a lack of proper nutrients in the diet” (p. 1007) This inadequate intake of nutrients can also be more or less than body requirements (Potter & Perry, 2013).

Basic nutrients include calories, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Calories are a basic energy value of food. Daily recommended caloric intake may vary from patient to patient

In the United States, higher risk individuals tend to be older adults who are socially isolated, those that cannot financially afford adequate nutrition, people with substance abuse problems, and individuals with eating disorders (Potter & Perry, 2013). While every patient may not fall into one of these categories, it is still important to note that every patient has a possibility for being at risk for malnutrition. One example of a risk due to malnutrition, is a patient that was assigned at Midtown Medical Center. The patient, having had a craniotomy a few days prior, had intense headaches with pain radiating from his skull and down the left side of his face. The pain was described as being so intense that he could not eat until he received pain medication, and even then, he would eat less than twenty-five percent of his food, resulting from feelings of hopelessness. In this case, the patient had multiple factors contributing to feelings of hopelessness, but by identifying these contributing factors and recording the percentage of the food that the client ate, the nursing student was able to adjust the patient’s plan of care

This can include an unrestricted or normal diet, soft diet, mechanical soft diet, full liquid diet, or clear liquid diet. While it is important for the nurse to identify the types of foods that can be eaten with each diet, it is also important for the nurse to be able to identify what the patient likes to eat. If a patient receives foods they are not used to eating, or that is not preferred, the client is more likely to have inadequate nutritional intake. Conversely, if a patient needs to eat foods that are unfavorable, nursing interventions such as feeding the patient, bargaining with the patient, and encouraging family to eat with the patient can help avoid inadequate nutritional intake. However, one of the most important nursing interventions regarding nutrition is patient teaching; it is extremely important for the client to understand the instructions regarding the patient’s diet and why it is important that the patient adheres to it. This is especially important in patients that have dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, as they may have alternative means of receiving nutritional therapy such as a nasogastric tube or PICC line (Potter & Perry,