Question

A Buddhist patient enters the hospital for diagnostic testing just before lunch time. The nurse tells the aide to give a meal tray to the new patient, because no tests will be done until later that evening. The aide gives the patient a meal of Salisbury steak, bread, green beans, and potatoes with brown gravy. The patient eats nothing but a slice of bread and the green beans. Which of the following considerations was omitted by the nurse?

a. The patient should not be served any food until a physicians order is obtained.
b. The patients Buddhist faith probably requires a vegetarian diet.
c. The patient may be too frightened about the tests to want to eat very much.
d. The patient may have diabetes or be allergic to some foods.

Answer 1

The nurse omitted the consideration that the Buddhist patient probably requires a vegetarian diet due to their faith.

Step-by-step explanation:

The consideration that was omitted by the nurse in this case is that the Buddhist patient probably requires a vegetarian diet due to their faith. All followers of Jainism, a religion closely related to Buddhism, are vegetarians as part of their practice of nonviolence. They will eat only food items such as fresh fruit, vegetables, cereals, and legumes. Root vegetables, like potatoes, are avoided by the more devout followers due to the harm caused to plants or other organisms in the soil when the roots are pulled. Therefore, serving the patient Salisbury steak, which is meat-based, goes against their dietary restrictions.