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Medical Nutrition Therapy
I need help with a diet that is right for me. I am a kidney transplant patient. I also am insulin dependent because of the rejection medicine I am on. I have to take coumadin 7.5 a day, so that means I have to watch my intake of vitamin K food intake. Could you please help me with a diet. I weigh 246 and I am 5 foot 5.
I would recommend you see a Registered Dietitian who can review your medical record and plan a diet that includes all your health needs as well as your food preferences. Without access to your medical record, I could not plan an appropriate diet for you.
I am a RN working in an intensive care unit at a local hospital. For our patients on a ventilator we must calculate the calories required. To do this we use the Harris Benedict formula. My question is what is the correct formula. We have been told to use the factor of 655 when calculation for a female. Some of my research has shown that the factor of 65.5 should be used.
Which is correct? If it were correct to use 65.5 would you give me a source that I can show at the hospital. Thanks in advance for any information. The correct factor for women are 655 and for men 66, but the Harris Benedict formula is much more involved than that. This calorie calculation includes weight, height and age.
The Harris Benedict formula can be found in most clinical nutrition textbooks. Also, the Harris Benedict formula doesn't include activity calories or stress / fever factors due to illness which can range from 10 to 100% over basal energy expenditure (Harris Benedict). So if you want to correctly calculate the required calories for this ventilator patient, I would suggest that if you have a clinical dietitian working in your hospital, that you get her / him involved in this patient's care even if you need a doctor's referral. There are some formulas /diets that stress patients on ventilators because of the high carbohydrate content. High carbohydrate intakes increase oxygen consumption and the patient take a longer time getting weaned off the ventilator if his / her diet is wrong. This patient needs nutrition therapy from a Registered Dietitian. In case you haven't tried the Healthy Body Calculator,you can use it to calculate calories and nutrients for your patients. It does not however include a stress factor, which you will have to add calories and other nutrients due to disease or metabolic processes. But it does most of the basic calculations for you. |
