Question

You are a dietitian/healthcare professional working in a skilled nursing care facility. Your patient is a 85 year old male, wheel-chair bound patient who has a history of uncontrolled diabetes. He has a open sore on his middle toe that is not healing. He is refusing to eat and the health care team is considering enteral feeding. What factors will you consider before recommending enteral feeding for him? (List AND EXPLAIN 5 factors and why are these factors important to consider? Be as specific as possible for max points.

Answer 1

ANSWER-

Eternal feeding is a kind of process in which food is given to patient directly into the stomach through pipes passing through oesophagus and other gastrointestinal organs.

factors to be taken care before giving eternal feeding are as follows-

1) the glucose level in the body should be low comparitively, they should not be high as it is seen in a diabetic patient. its been seen that direct eternal feeding increases the glucose level in the body of the patient causing an 25percent increase risk of hyperglycimia.

2) the another factor, is the amount of insulin. in the body of pateint the level of insulin should be apprehended, if the level of insulin are comparitively very low, then it is required to provide the patient with the insulin dose, so that the extra glucose present in the blood is taken up.

3) as the wound is active on the toe, there is a high risk of blood vessels clot near the wound which may block the blood vessels and may result into the death of the person. before giving the eternal feeding it is required to treat the wound properly as eternal feeding may or may not have side effects and may result into some harmful effects on the open sore.

4) as the patient is an 85 year old person, the immune response of the pateint and the ability to produce insulin and to maintain the blood glucose level, all three of them are very weak and thus it becomes really hard for the body to adjust the glucose level of the body when the food is directly taken up from an external source. therefore, for the patients of old age, it is recommeneded to go with eternal feeding as the amount of glucose level in the given food and others sugars are known and their level can be taken care of.

5) outside source of food can harm the pateint and may result into increase glucose levels, therefore , eternal feeding is recommended