Imagine that you are a clinical nutrition assistant working at a local hospital under the supervision of a Registered Dietitian (RD). Overnight, a 74-year-old male patient was admitted to the hospital and needs to be fully assessed for any nutritional risks (in accordance with hospital/medical nutrition care laws). The hospital’s initial nutritional screening protocol identified that the patient may be at nutrition risk, due to a “high risk admitting diagnosis.” The admitting physician suspects that the patient has suffered a heart attack; however the full cardiac consult results are not yet showing in the computer. Furthermore, the patient has recently moved here to the U.S. from a foreign country within the past year so that his daughter can help care for him due to his declining health. The entire family speaks very little English. The patient’s cultural background is significant because the culture may not place much influence on western-style healthcare practices. The patient’s expression of his culture needs to be examined further. The nurse’s notes reveal that the daughter does not know how much her father weighs, but she suspects that he has gained weight since her mother passed away a year ago.
1.) Imagine that you have to complete this “demographic/cultural” background patient research for your supervisor within the next couple of hours. Record and describe this fictional patient’s cultural background information by listing the answers to certain questions (translator may be requested in hospitals). Record observations, human expressions, and any other unique characteristics about the patient’s culture or background that may impact his ability to adhere to any type of medical nutrition therapy, nutrition education, or dietary restrictions. 2.) The patient and daughter are unaware of the patient’s current height and weight. His hospital bed unfortunately does not have a built-in weight scale. The patient is unable to stand upright due to his medical condition. Therefore, list and describe one alternative way to estimate height (stature) and one alternative way to estimate a person’s weight. 3.) Based on your knowledge of the patient’s cultural background as well as your evaluation and observations of your current interactions with the patient and daughter, do you believe the patient will comply with the MD suggesting a strict, very low calorie (1000–1200 calories), low fat, low cholesterol, and low salt diet, due to the heart attack/cardiac consultation results and morbidly obese appearance?