PUREED DIET - PREVALENCE AND REPORTED REASONS FOR USE IN A LONG-TERM-CARE HOSPITAL

Although pureed diets are thought to be widely used for patients in lo ng-term care facilities, there is little specific information concerni ng prevalence and reasons for the actual use of this diet texture. At Saint-Vincent Hospital, a 516 bed, long-term care and rehabilitation f acility, 25.9% of the chronic-care population (n=424) were on a pureed diet. Those who received pureed diet tended to be older (83.5 years v ersus 75.4 years, P<0.001) and were more likely to be female (82.7% ve rsus 70.8% P<0.006), than the total population of long-term care patie nts. A greater percentage of patients receiving a pureed diel had deme ntia (43.0% versus 30.6%, P<0.02), and fewer had cerebrovascular accid ent as a primary diagnosis (22.6% versus 33.9%, P<0.05), than the tota l population of long-term care patients al this hospital. Following da ta collection, reasons for patients being on a pureed diet were groupe d into five categories. The most popular categories were ''Physiologic al/Mechanical'' and ''Cognitive'' problems.