The Bethlen Home Messenger, 1990 (1-3. szám)
1990-03-01 / 1. szám
Desk l2otes jfrom Dur Dietician MARCH IS DESIGNATEDÄS NATIONAL, NUTRITION MONTH Good nutrition is always important, not only in March, but during this month, we will make a point to promulgate important facts of good nutrition. In our nursing home we will demonstrate food samples during our regular Resident Council Meetings. We will conduct a discussion about the right choices when selecting a menu and how to use the salad bar wisely in our dining room. NURSING HOMF. PATIENTS ARF. AT RISK OF MALNUTRITION Advanced age, poor appetite, eating habits and the change from private household to institutional living often limits patients from always having their preferences. Consequently, the food intake of nursing home patients is usually inadequate, especially directly after their arrival. The Dietician's role is to make sure that, despite the situation, every patient receives adequate nutrition-related assistance. To prevent malnutrition, we take detailed diet histories of each patient, take into consideration their preferences and assess the individual needs. After taking all the factors and receiving the diet prescribed by the attending physician, a personal diet card is prepared. This card is used by the dietary employees to serve each patient. If the patient's preferences change, the diet card has to be changed accordingly. It is helpful to communicate your request to us. We periodically screen and rescreen our patients for nutritional risk, document recommendations into the medical records, and encourage good nutrition every moment among the patients. "Please eat it, it's good for you” is the slogan. To assure adequate vitamin and minerals in our institutional food, we follow vitamin and nutrient-saving cooking methods and provide fresh vegetables and fruits, not saving on expenses and effort for such purposes. Most of our patients need assistance to eat. We work collaboratively with all other staff members to achieve effective nutritional care. Our success can be measured by the low number of decubiti (bedsore or body ulcer). Without proper nutrition there is no tissue repair and skin breakdown is unavoidable; consequently, many nursing home patients would suffer skin ulcerations. Nutrition therapy is an integral part of the total medical care of our nursing home patients and is an important part of our wholistic healing process. THK CARK OF THK ELDERLY Did you ever stop to think for a moment about the extent of care an elderly person needs in a nursing home? I am sure if you did, you started to realize what a workload our employees have providing specialized care in skilled and intermediate care type facilities like the Bethlen Home. What are nurses and aides really doing? Some statistics show: • Bathing requires mostly total assistance by 78-81.5% of patients, each bathing time is about one-half hour. Only one patient bathes himself here at the home. • Dressing requires partial or total assistance by 77-84% of patients, each time about 15 minutes are needed. Many of our patients have to be dressed two or three times per day. • Toileting (taking about 10 minutes if uninterrupted) by 63-74% of patients, how often daily? ... • Incontinence of bowels and bladder ... 68-78% of patients are taken to the restroom every two hours and this usually requires 10-15 minutes each (how many daily?) occasion. • Tube feeding or spoon feeding of 70-80% of patients, (need 20-25 minutes for each feeding). • Orient confused patients using tact and patience — 50-60% of patients, (requires about 15 minutes each time). • Special skin care: rubbing with creams, cut nails, positioning bedridden patients, etc. - 70-85% of patients. Not to mention the million other "little", but very time consuming tasks, like combing hair, cleaning glasses, distributing medicines, documenting the happenings of the house, solving problems, etc. If you think of all the attention your loved ones are receiving from the nursing staff, I'm sure you would agree that they are going that "extra mile" in the care they give and you may want to let them know how much their work is appreciated. LETS SHARE WITH YOU YOUNG PEOPLE Now and then we receive new patients with exceptionally youthful, practically wrinkle-free complexion. I always make a point of asking these ladies for their secret. Attention teenagers and young folk! None of these 70-80 year old ladies used heavy make-up, they did not use much soap, and never smeared heavy creams on their faces. Their secret is just a light moisturizer; Nivea, Oil of Olay and such. The usual soaps they used were simple; Ivory and similar, like the old type transparent soaps. We are back again in the old times where simple, cheap, everyday products were much more helpful and resulted better in the long run, than our elaborated, expensive complicated skin-care. Let's draw the consequences... How will we look 50-60-70 years from now?
