Helen, 77 years old, had dieted all her life—or so it seemed.She often chided herself about it. “After all, at my age who caresif I’m too fat? I do. It depresses me when I gain weight and then Igain even more when I’m depressed.” At 5 feet, 4 inches tall and148 pounds, her weight was ideal for her height and age, but Helen,like so many women of her generation, had incorporated the image ofwomen on TV who weighed 105 pounds as her ideal. She had achievedthat weight for only a few weeks three or four times in her adultlife. She had tried high-protein diets, celery and cottage cheesediets, fasting, commercially prepared diet foods, and numerous faddiets. She always discontinued the diets when she perceived anynegative effects. She was invested in maintaining her general goodhealth. Her most recent attempt at losing 30 pounds on anall-liquid diet had been unsuccessful and left her feelingconstipated, weak, irritable, and mildly nauseated and experiencingheart palpitations. This really frightened her. Her physiciancriticized her regarding the liquid diet but seemed rather amusedwhile reinforcing that her weight was “just perfect” for her age.In the discussion, the physician pointed out how fortunate she wasthat she was able to drive to the market, had sufficient money forfood, and was able to eat anything with no dietary restrictions.Helen left his office feeling silly. She was an independent,intelligent woman; she had been a successful manager of a largefinancial office. Before her retirement 7 years ago, her work hadconsumed most of her energies. There had been no time for family,romance, or hobbies. Lately, she had immersed herself in readingthe Harvard Classics as she had promised herself she would readwhen she retired. Unfortunately, now that she had the time to readthem, she was losing interest. She knew that she must begin to“pull herself together” and “be grateful for her blessings” just asthe physician had said.
Based on the nursing study, develop a nursing care plan usingthe following procedure*:
1. Highlight or list the data that is important for assessingher nutrition (at least 5 items)
2. Properly state 2 Nursing Diagnosis for Helen using the datahighlighted to support your statements.
3. State 2 reasons why older women like Helen have been focusedon loosing weight:
4. Identify 3 interventions to help support her nutrition.
5. Identify 2 reasons why long term feeding tubes are riskyinterventions for older adults.
