Question

A 55-year-old woman has been hospitalized due to complications from hypertension and a recent gastrointestinal infection.

1. Describe any two factors a medical nutrition therapist must consider to evaluate the effect of illness on food acceptance and utilization.
2. Enumerate any two steps involved in the nutritional care process that a medical nutrition therapist must follow for this patient.

Answer 1

1. 1. The therapist should assess appetite and gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, or altered taste, because these directly reduce food intake and tolerance.
   2. The therapist should assess digestion, absorption, and metabolic stress due to infection/illness (including dehydration and electrolyte imbalance), because illness can impair nutrient absorption and change nutrient needs and utilization.
2. 1. Nutrition assessment and diagnosis: Collect diet history, medical history, anthropometry, and relevant lab/clinical data, and identify nutrition problems (e.g., poor intake, dehydration, high sodium intake).
   2. Nutrition intervention and monitoring: Plan a suitable diet (e.g., a low-sodium DASH-type diet as tolerated, adequate fluids/electrolytes, and easy-to-digest foods), and then monitor intake, BP, symptoms, weight, and labs, making modifications as needed.