A home health nurse is conducting a nutritional assessment on a client with moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) when it is noted that he has lost 5 pounds over the past month
The nursing intervention best directed at managing the client's need for nutrition is to: 1. Provide finger-food snacks several times throughout the day.
2. Recommend referral to a nutritionist who is familiar with AD clients.
3. Suggest menu choices that encourage a mechanical soft diet.
4. Encourage meals that include at least one of the client's favorite foods.
Provide finger-food snacks several times throughout the day.
Rationale: For the client with moderate Alzheimer's disease, nutrition and hydration problems arise. Increased confusion, frustration, and wandering are typical of this stage of AD. Providing the client with opportunities to have snacks throughout the day, and giving foods that are easy to eat "on the go," like fruit slices, protein shakes, or finger foods such as sandwiches, are ways to offset the nutritional deficits typically seen in clients at this stage of the disease process. Providing favorite foods is not likely to impact the problem of altered interest in eating. A nutritionist should be involved if the weight loss continues. A mechanical soft diet is appropriate only if it is determined that there is a problem with the client's teeth or chewing/swallowing mechanisms.
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