Celiac and the Hospital Tray

[Tait, MSN, RN]

As the wife of a celiac sprue spouse with ulcerative proctitis, I was wondering, has anyone had any luck/difficulty obtaining gluten free diets in the hospital? I can't say that I have ever had a patient with celiac as of yet, but with the increasing frequency of diagnosis I wonder what some hospitals are doing.

I am assuming they send them a salad with oil and vinegar or a hamburger without the bun on most days. (I am about 99.87% sure this is what our hospital would do, considering they still send ADA patients peaches in heavy syrup at meals)

Anyone have any good or horrible stories on the topic?

Just curious.

Tait

[amarilla, RN]

I am still a student but have seen the response of dietary at our sponsor hospital firsthand:

Patient: "I have celiac disease and cannot have anything containing gluten."

Dietary: "So that just means you can't have bread?"

Patient: *sigh.

(cue sandwich arriving for dinner three hours later; rye bread apparently doesn't contain gluten.)

After talking to dietary, (I have a gluten sensitivity myself, though tests haven't proved it to be celiac), I hoped that we'd found some safe, though plain, alternatives for the patient, (hamburgers without the bun, grilled chicken, salad, etc.) Guess what arrived thirty minutes later?

Pasta.

*sigh.

I hope things are better for your husband, though I am sorry to hear that he has this to contend with.

Best,

Southern

[catshowlady]

I had one pt who was a celiac when I was a tech. He was a feed (so I got to see all his food). They sent up rice bread on his tray instead of wheat bread. They did pretty well, really. (We had an excellent dietitian.)

My current hospital would provide an alternative of some kind. The team that does our trays will go to the grocery store down the street in between meals and get whatever a pt needs or wants. I love this, helps us keep up nutritional status on pt's w/ poor PO intake.

I know what you mean about the diabetic meals. Every hospital I've ever been in does not do well at breakfast. I've seen many a diabetic get milk, OJ, a banana, and pancakes for breakfast. This is apparently made all better by the fact that they get diet syrup.

[JRD2002]

In my hospital, patients pick up their phone and order room service so they are able to pick what food they want and customize their order. When entering diets into the computer there is a box for gluten free.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

hmm... but is that hamburger grilled on a dedicated grill? or dedicated pan?....is the kitchen air filtered to prevent cross contamination? no blue cheese dressing for that salad.....no soy sauce......

[NamasteNurse, BSN, RN]

I have celiac and have been hospitalized many times. I've always gotten excellent celiac appropriate food. They had specific rice bread and the nurses and dietician were well informed.