As a registered nurse assigned to work on the float team in an acute care facility, you have been scheduled to work three 12 hour shifts this week. For the 1st shift, you will be working on a maternity floor; the 2nd shift will be in pediatrics, and the 3rd shift on the geriatric unit. While on the maternity unit, your client who just delivered a baby girl asks: “I’ve decided to feed my baby using infant formula, but I’m concerned about whether or not she will receive all of the required nutrients to help her grow”. How would you respond? On your 2nd shift in the pediatric unit, you have been assigned to care for Frank, a 15 year-old-boy. As you begin to set up his lunch tray, Frank pushes it away stating: “I can’t eat this junk!” What foods should Frank include in his diet to promote health and to reduce the risks for developing a chronic disease? On the 3rd (and thankfully last) shift for the week you are working on the geriatric unit. What are the health issues of the geriatric female clients? What nutritional concerns can you identify for the older adult?
1. Even though breastfeeding considered the best nutritional option by most major medical organizations, it’s not for every mother. Commercially prepared infant formulas are a nutritious alternative to breast milk. The formula contains some vitamins and nutrients that breastfed babies need to get from supplements. Manufactured under sterile conditions, commercial formulas attempt to duplicate mother's milk using a complex combination of proteins, sugars, fats, and vitamins that would be virtually impossible to create at home. So, if you don't breastfeed your baby, it's important that you use only a commercially prepared formula and that you do not try to create your own. So don’t be worried, your baby will receive all of the required nutrients to help her grow.
2. Frank is an adolescent. Adolescence is a