I recently visited my mother. She had just finished preparing a fruit salad when I walked in the door – so she offered me a bowl of it. I accepted it with thanks. It came as it had to come: I caught a piece of honeydew melon with my second spoon – and I lost my appetite. I don’t like honeydew melon. Honeydew melon and I, it’s like oil and water – we don’t mix, I hate her. And so I didn’t eat any more of the rest of the fruit salad.
Everyone who has a kind of “hate food” like me probably knows such a reaction. Our patients are no exception. Accordingly, it can be difficult if we wean them from a feeding tube and want to start eating independently again. Because if the dish in front of you doesn’t taste good at all, then the food won’t work out. So: if the patient likes the asparagus soup more than something sweet like semolina, then the asparagus soup should be on the menu.
I had a similar case just recently. My patient barely touched the pudding in front of him, he didn’t even open his mouth. So I asked his relatives what he usually is at home – and lo and behold: there was never anything sweet there. So next time I tried it with mashed potatoes. It worked.
Intensive care specialist Pola Gülberg from the Ebersberger district clinic.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
So the curiosity of us nurses about certain preferences of our patients serves a purpose. We use background information from relatives about everyday life at home for basic sensory stimulation. Such is helpful during and after sedation phases to get fit again. We make it as comfortable as possible for the patient, because that promotes recovery.
I like to ask my patients what their favorite music is and play it on from time to time. Just any music would defeat its purpose: imagine being blasted with folk music, even though you think it’s awful. Speaking out accordingly and asking to play different music doesn’t work, however, because the sedation is still too strong – you would be trapped in your own nightmare.
Therefore, the following applies: the patients should taste and hear what they like best. The same applies to the other senses. The stuffed animal, for example, which the grandchild gave to grandpa so that he would not be so alone, not only stimulates the sense of touch, but also appeals to a positive emotional component. A great combination.
Pola Gülberg is an intensive care nurse. In this column, the 38-year-old talks about her work at the district clinic in Ebersberg every week. The collected texts are below sueddeutsche.de/thema/Auf Station to find.