NURS 126 Nutrition In Healthcare I
Principles of nutrition for the adult including the food pyramid for a healthy balanced diet, necessary micro and macronutrients in maintaining homeostasis, types of specialty diets, and guidelines for adequate nutrition needed to maintain optimal health. Additionally, the principles of assessing nutritional status is included by looking at pertinent laboratory values, calculating a patient's BMI, and assessing a patient's ability to ingest and digest their food. We look at how a patient's nutritional status is affected by chronic diseases such as Diabetes Mellitus types 1 and 2, and conditions requiring rehabilitation, and how pharmacokinetics affects and is affected by a patient's nutritional status. The curriculum includes information and training in enteral feedings, with assessment of calorie needs as well as tube feeding rates and issues. Total Parenteral Nutrition is also introduced in this course. These classroom principles are applied practically in the clinical setting with patients in long term care facilities. Students perform assessments on their patients that include nutritional status, as well as elimination needs that can be partially addressed by their nutritional intake. This content is embedded into and taught seamlessly with the theory content in NURS 120.