Army dietitian shares her role supporting the COVID-19 fight
U.S. Army Dietitian Capt. Melissa Shaffer is a registered dietitian and certified nutrition support clinician at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Recently Shaffer had to create a specialized diet plan for a hospitalized patient who was sedated and on a ventilator for a month battling COVID-19. Since ventilated patients cannot swallow Shaffer used enteral tube feeding to provide the patient a continuous feed of a no fiber, high protein formula, with supplements to meet his nutrition needs. Once the patient improved and came off the ventilator, he had lost the ability to swallow and eat and needed to relearn those skills. A swallow study determined the texture of foods he could tolerate and Shaffer used a combination of thickened liquids and mechanically softened foods to help wean him from tube feedings.
