Obviously, a very sick and confused patient will be in no
condition to choose his or her menu. The patient may in fact be on an
intravenous drip feed. Everybody else, however, receives a daily
checklist from which to choose meals for the following day.
Meals. The choice
you are offered depends on any special restrictions placed on your diet
by your physician, and these will be written on your order sheet. The
food is brought to you by a member of the dietary department. A nursing
aide usually checks to see if you need any help cutting up the food o
with eating and drinking.
The food should be hot, and nowadays, great efforts are made to
provide food that is appetizing as well as nutritious. Apart from
regular meals, there is usually some provision made for snacks at
regular intervals, and these are also specified on the order sheet.
Ask the dietician what sort of diet you are supposed to be on
before accepting any food or drink brought in by friends and relatives.
For anything but a "regular diet," you should have nothing extra
without your physician's approval.
Special Diets. Special diets are used in the treatment and
management of certain disorders. For instance, if a patient is
suffering from an acute liver or kidney disorder, a low-protein diet
may be prescribed. Low-residue diets are prescribed for inflammation of
the gastrointestinal tract, and high-residue diets for diverticular
disease. Patients suffering from gout are occasionally advised to
follow a low-purine diet. Purines are broken down into uric acid, and
an excess of uric acid production can aggravate gout. Diabetics are
kept on a carefully controlled diet. The catering department of each
hospital produces these varied diets for the patients under care.
