6.1 Introduction

Many of the clients you will be caring for will need some help with meals. They may be unable to feed themselves because of weakness or disability. Be aware of their feelings of loss regarding this skill when you assist them to eat. It is important to determine how much the clients can do themselves and encourage independence, but it is also important to know when to assist clients when they need support to eat. In some circumstances, for example, during illness, it may be necessary to record a client’s food or fluid intake and compare this to total output. In this unit, we explore how HCAs can support clients who either cannot feed themselves or are at risk for choking.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this unit, the successful student will be able to:

  1. Describe nutrition in relation to common health challenges.
  2. Identify differences related to diversity and how that affects nutritional choices.
  3. Identify components of common special diets.
  4. Explain the purpose of enteral nutrition.
  5. Differentiate between choking and dysphagia.
  6. Demonstrate the set-up of a food tray.
  7. Demonstrate providing minimal to moderate assistance to help a person eat.
  8. Demonstrate providing full assistance to a person who is unable to feed themselves.
  9. Report and record food and fluid intake and output.
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Personal Care Skills for Health Care Assistants - 2nd Edition Copyright © 2023 by Tracy Christianson and Kimberly Morris, Thompson Rivers University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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