A patient you are caring for refuses to eat. What do you do? ...

[ts19998]

A patient you are caring for refuses to eat. What do you do?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Your care is important and communicating changes in patient condition is critical for the best outcome for the patient. When assisting a patient to the dining room you observe the following: the patient enjoys chatting with friends on the way and is pleasant and cooperative. The patient becomes flushed and appears to have increasingly difficult time breathing; he then reports pain whenever he tries to take a deep breath and heaviness in his chest. What would you do?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[catron30]

Answer to Question 1

A patient has a right to refuse but it is important for a patient to eat. The digestive system breaks down the food and changes it so that the cells of the body can use it for energy. Notify the nurse so the nurse and the patient can come to an appropriate solution to the problem.

Answer to Question 2

Assist the patient to a comfortable position in a chair or wheelchair; send someone for the nurse immediately. Assure the patient remains calm. Request assistance from another nursing assistant so you may obtain a set of vital signs and have them for the nurse. Nursing assistants are often the first set of eyes observing a change in a patient and it is imperative they take the appropriate action. Situations such as this may be a flare of a chronic condition such as asthma or congestive heart failure or something more acute such as pulmonary emboli (blood clot) or even a myocardial infarction (heart attack).

[ts19998]

Thanks for the timely response, appreciate it

[ricroger]

Great answer, keep it coming