Monday, February 07, 2011

Candid hospital food, New Mexico style

This is nearly a week old, but this is a report on the hospital food they brought Keith when he was still mostly unconscious. I thought of friends in India, and England.



Chicken quesadilla (the tortilla had cheese and grilled chicken bits, and hot sauce to dip it in). Spanish rice (rice cooked in tomato juice, or some such). Corn. The two brown containers are cream of chicken soup and iced tea. The one in the front, in a coffee cup, was cold tea. The pink thing was strawberry sorbet.

That is a LOT of food. Creamy, spicy, irritating kind of food. Oh. And the radish and the onion:


Maybe Day 3 it could've been good, but three hours after surgery!? Day 3 he was home, anyway. :-)



Holly objected to this sign. She figures if they don't know that, they're not really professionals.
at

6 comments:

  1. ZenmommaFebruary 08, 2011 4:45 PM

    I agree with Holly about those signs. I've just started noticing them in doctor's offices, etc. It gives me the creeps. Isn't it Care Giving 101 to WASH YOUR HANDS before doing anything? It sure is in food prep.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Robyn Coburn Writer/ArtistMarch 14, 2011 3:16 PM

    Studies show that doctors often forget to wash their hands. There is some of this in Atul Gawande's writing - darn I'll have to look up his most recent book. There is also a thing - phenomenon, I guess - where the hospitals or wards with the most assertive (towards doctors) nurses, the nurses who have the balls to remind the doctors to wash their hands or hold out the Purell for them, have significantly better outcomes for patient in terms of not getting infections. Some places have Purell stations in every room, others have staff wearing the bottles on their belts. It might be creepy but it is also pragmatic.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Robyn Coburn Writer/ArtistMarch 14, 2011 3:17 PM

    This is the book that I read all this scary stuff about the hospital hand washing issue:
    http://gawande.com/better

    ReplyDelete
  4. LisaMay 16, 2012 9:37 PM

    Hi Sandra!
    I am a University nursing student from Australia, and I am currently creating best practice guidelines for hospital nutrition. I was wondering if you would allow me to use this photo of the irritating food for the purposes of this? It would not be published anywhere, just for the purposes of my assignment....
    Thanks for your time ,
    Lisa Wood :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sandra DoddMay 17, 2012 8:46 AM

    Lisa, I don't mind, but I thought the food was cool, I just thought it was a little spicy for some people who had just gotten out of surgery, but it's typical New Mexico food, which was good (for New Mexico). And people from India might've liked it. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. LisaMay 20, 2012 9:59 PM

    haha. the food does look good - however the semi-unconscious man lying next to a tray of food is really the reason why i love the picture!!!! Your point about the appropriateness of this meal for such a patient is the exact point of my research, and i thank you for allowing me to use it :)
    I'll email you it when i am finished if you like???
    Many thanks

    ReplyDelete