12.7.1: Introduction

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Erin O'Hara-Leslie, Amdra C. Wade, Kimberly B. McLain, SUNY Broome

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An important part of the job of a Home Health Aide/Personal Care Aide is to assist patients with eating. This may include planning and preparing meals, shopping for ingredients, serving food, and feeding.

Home Health Aides/Personal Care Aides can provide an atmosphere that is pleasant during meal time. Ensure there are no unpleasant odors. Empty trash cans, and remove urinals and bedpans from sight. Offer to assist the patient to the bathroom and to perform mouth care prior to eating. Ensure patients who wear dentures place them in their mouths prior to eating. This allows the patient to better chew and digest their food.

Patients should always be positioned in an upright position during mealtimes. This helps to prevent choking. For patients who have swallowing or choking problems, they should be kept in an upright position for 30-60 minutes once their meal is complete.

Patients with visual impairments may need to be instructed about the position of food on their plate. An easy way to do this is to use the clock method. Instruct patients about position of food using the face of a clock as a guide. For example, “The peas are at 2:00, the meatloaf is at 6:00 and the rice is at 9:00.”

Some patients may only need assistance with preparing food and are able to eat independently. Many types of adaptive equipment such as special plates, cups, and eating utensils are available to help people be as independent as possible while eating. Other patients will require complete care during eating and the Home Health Aide/Personal Care Aide will need to feed the patient. HHAs/PCAs should sit next to patients while feeding and offer to keep those who are independent eaters company. Mealtime is a good time to get to know the patient. Patients who prefer to pray or have religious or spiritual practices prior to meals should be allowed to practice these rituals. Give privacy as appropriate and requested.

Home Health Aides/Personal Care Aides should offer foods that are appealing to their patient and allow them to choose the foods they would like to eat, as appropriate. Follow ChooseMyPlate guidelines as discussed in Module 8 when selecting and preparing food to serve to patients. Follow Care Plan guidelines when preparing special diets. Refer to Module 8 for specific instruction about preparing special diets.