So my heart broke when I saw this patient....

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I got a late admit last night of a elderly man who came from a SNF with a Femur Fx and was in serious pain...he had a MS pump and they were giving with..Any guesses !?!? More Morphine and was it working !? OF COURSE NOT..so i got a new order for dilaudid and that of course did the trick. When i was assessing this man tho my heart sank and in all honestly I'm not one to get even remotely emotional about things but this man looked sooo incredibly cachectic it was sad, i mean sad I could of nearly cried. You could see just about every bone on his body and I of course probed into why he was this way. He said I havent eaten in like a week because the food at the SNF is just not good and it's not appetizing to me. I nearly started to cry. I said to him, you know you need to eat in order to get better, I said you don't look good at all and I cant be having that. Apparently he used to be 100% independent before a fall that Fx'ed his femur and I guess he's kinda giving up on life. His wife in a SNF with dementia and I can see how he could be so depressed that he's just not eating anymore. So I promised him i would get him a bacon egg and cheese from McDonalds in the morning and i forgot to, so I'm going to go up at lunch time and get him something from boston market and hopefully he eats it...Has anyone else ever done this? Is this acceptable...I honestly could care less if I get into trouble for it, because as I sit here writing this my heart just literally aches for his man...ugh i just feel so bad....idk what to do....i just wish i could make him better instantly but i know that just isn't possible....:crying2:

You know just the fact that someone cares about him might cause him to take interest in life.

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Specializes in ICU, ED.

Sometimes you just have to follow your heart. Keep up the good work, and I hope his appetite picks up. God bless you both.:redbeathe

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Specializes in LTC, Subacute Rehab.

I've brought treats to patients before... sometimes it just makes their week to have somebody do it.

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Sometimes you just gotta do things like that. We really need as nurses to try and knock some of this PC BS on the head, its getting in the way of being humans and showing compassion. Let the doctors do their staring down their nose at people, let us nurses do what nurses do!

I looked after a 103 year old diabetic with ESRF, with gangrenous ulcers and cataracts. They knew they were in their last stages but they were still being kept to their strict diabetic diet, despite being terminal and probaby days from dying, they showed me their stash of chocolate biscuits, they couldn't eat them anymore because of their dentures not fitting due to oedema, but said what they really wanted was a sundae from McD's. The senior nurse on thought as I did, in fact all the nursing staff thought as I did, that at that point give the patient a sundae, can't make them any worse. So off I toddled and got them a caramel sundae. They died a few days later peacefully with a huge grin and a McD's spoon in their hand!!

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There is an Arab saying "Giving food to someone you know is like feeding the Prophets of God. Giving food to a stranger is like giving directly to God."

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

As long as he is on a regular diet,

Boston Market is sooooo much better for him...healthier food....

Yumm!

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.

Hopefully someone bringing him something tasty will cheer him up.

I used to work at a nursing home and I can understand too well why many of the residents seem to lose interest in food. Maybe Jamie Oliver needs to get involved here....

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Specializes in Long Term Care/Mental Health.

As a Charge Nurse at a SNF i can attest to the horrible food. We had a resident who had a stroke and thus got switched to purreed food whiich is ten times worse. SHe stoped eating and was loosing weight big time. I took it upon myself to make really great pureed food at home and bring it in to her and place it in her minifridge. I didn't broadcast it, but i wouldnt hide it either. I think as nurses thats all part of the job, looking out for needs of our clients.

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When I was a child, I nursed every animal I could find. All of them needed food and love. When I started nursing, that is what I envisioned, feeding and caring for people.

Fast forward. Several years ago, I worked in a national call center. Sometimes there were escalated suicide calls. My job was to deal with those calls. I started asking these sad people when they had last eaten. Usually it was the day before and they couldn't really remember what they had eaten. They were hungry!

I would ask them if they had money to buy food and if they had food. By the end of the call, unless they had means at hand - gun, noose, etc., I did not notify local authorities. But I made them all promise that they would eat. I also instructed them to get help and gave them numbers or patched them through to hot lines.

Of course, I'll never know if that worked or not.

But the point is that sick people can't remember to take care of themselves, I guess. Maybe that is why grandmothers always want to feed us!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

So of course I show up on the unit and people are like what the hell are you doing here? And I was like Ohhh nothing..lol and Apparently my NM came up to me and said I just wanted to let you know that Mr. Xxxxx said that you were phenomonal and he put his call bell on because he personally wanted to tell me the great care you gave to him...so keep up the good work..hahah and then another patient I had, the daughter (who is also an RN) was soo thankful for everything I did she wanted to put me in for one of these awards we have at work for like people who follow the Values of the hospital etc and so I was like wahooo 2 good things for the price of one!....

The patient with whom i brought the boston market too tried to give me money and I said I'd feel disrespected if you gave me that. I just want to see you eat and enjoy it thats what you can give me, so I sat down and watched him eat and he said ya know thats the most i've eaten in a week and of course he didnt eat all of it but he ate enough and he was so very thankful and I walked out of there saying this is why I'm a nurse. I said to my mom I said If today doesn't get me into heaven then idk what will, and of course she had to take the wind out of my sail by asking me if I cleaned my room..*** ! lollolol....But my PT was very happy and thankful and it made me feel good, and i guess thats all that matter right ?!

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i guess thats all that matter right ?!

yep, ace, that's all that matters!! :specs:

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Specializes in Hospice.

I did something like this yesterday. I'm a Hospice crisis care nurse and my pt the last two days lives in an ECF. Her husband is her roommate. My patient herself had no problems with the facility food but her poor hubby came back from each meal in the dining room so saddened over the food. I felt horrible that this poor man returned from his dinner still hungry! So yesterday I snuck him in some homemade chili I had made. The picture of this happy old man grinning a huge grin with chili running down his chin is a memory I will keep a long time.

We wouldn't be nurses if we didn't care deeply about people. I kind of thought like you did: "If they're going to write me up for feeding a hungry man then karma is gonna smack them in the back of the head some day!"

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