1. Infant Case Study As a public health nurse you are called in to evaluate a baby girl who has recently been placed in foster care. The baby has moved to your area with her foster parents. The birth parents are nowhere to be found. The baby is 5 months old weighs 11 pounds is 23.5 inches long and has a head circumference of 16 inches. a. Plot the anthropometric measurements in the above description on the growth charts available at.cdc.gov/growthcharts/clinical_charts.htm”>http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/clinical_charts.htm and indicate in what percentile the measurements fall. Evaluate the results. b. Explain why the weight-for-length measurements appear normal. c. You obtain information from the hospital where the baby was born. At birth the baby weighed 3 pounds was 16 inches long and was born 2 months prematurely. Knowing this information reevaluate the anthropometric measurements you obtained at 5 months. Based on this new information evaluate the nutrition and growth status of the infant. d. The foster parents report that they are adding cereal to the baby’s evening feeding to promote sleeping through the night. What advice can be shared with the parents regarding cereal in bottles and sleeping through the night? 2. Elderly Case Study You are asked to see Mr. Basset who is 80 years old and has recently lost his wife. His children do not live nearby but Mr. Basset sees them on holidays. Mr. Basset has had an unexplained weight loss of 20 pounds in 3 months. He is taking medication for hypertension and arthritis. Mr. Basset reports that his wife did most of the cooking and he has limited cooking skills. He usually has cereal with milk and coffee for breakfast and soup for a second meal later in the day. He eats crackers throughout the day if he is hungry. In addition Mr. Basset has ill-fitting dentures and claims that food just does not taste the same. He is also on a limited budget. More than anything however Mr. Basset is lonely. Discussion Questions a. What physiological factors might contribute to Mr. Basset’s weight loss? b. What psychosocial factors might contribute to Mr. Basset’s weight loss? c. Give one likely explanation why Mr. Basset’s dentures do not fit. d. What community resources might be used to improve Mr. Basset’s nutritional status? e. Compare the risk factors described in Mr. Basset’s case with the “Determine Your Nutritional Health” checklist from the Nutrition Screening Initiative (Teaching Tool box in Chapter 13 of the text).
