DB6: Mechanical Soft Diet

Autonomy is a term that all of you should be familiar with if you are going to work in healthcare and always be mindful of how you protect an individuals right to autonomy while a resident in your facility. But it also just as important to provide quality care, assure quality of life and abide by mandated state and federal regulations.

Read Case 1, Unhappy with Mechanical Soft Diet, at the end of Chapter 12 in your required textbook. Then reflect on the questions below and respond in an educated, mature and thoughtful manner. At this point I expect some depth to your answers, drawing on things you have learned throughout this course. A simple response will not be accepted.

After reading the case study, answer the following:

1. Decisions are often made without including the resident in the process, essentially removing their sense of autonomy. How could this situation have been different from day 1 had the staff included Mr. Lee in the decision-making process? Explore various alternate scenarios/outcomes with each person that made decisions without his input.
2. If a regular diet is an issue for Mr. Lee (choking, weight loss, dignity, food getting cold, etc), what are some things the facility staff can do to try to do to minimize both facility liability (with regulators for resident decline/risks) and/or also to minimize Mr. Lees personal risks. You can think outside the box or just explore things the staff didnt consider trying. These can be simple ideas of things to do/try or big ideas. Or do you believe the staff did the right thing and have done all that can be done?

*There is no right answer but you must support your thinking and be insightful in your discussion post. You are exploring options to help him while also helping the facility to avoid citations, trying your best to provide quality care and quality of life for Mr. Lee.