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Routine hospital diets: clear liquid, full liquid, soft and normal sheet
10-mark answer frame

Explain routine hospital diets with suitable menus.

How to lay out the answer. Follow the frame, then write it in your own words.

  1. 1 · Open in two lines. Routine hospital diets differ mainly in consistency. A patient moves from clear liquid to full liquid, soft and normal as tolerated.
  2. 2 · Draw the diet ladder. [Flow: NPO → clear liquid → full liquid → soft → normal]
  3. 3 · Clear liquid diet. Transparent fluids; uses after surgery and in acute vomiting or diarrhoea; inadequate, 1-3 days only.
  4. 4 · Full liquid diet. Clear liquids plus milk and milk drinks, kanji, custard, egg flip; can be made nearly adequate.
  5. 5 · Soft and normal diets. Soft: idli, khichdi, curd rice, mashed vegetables. Normal: all foods, fully balanced.
  6. 6 · Sample menu. Give a one-day menu (six to eight feeds) for the diet the question asks for.
  7. 7 · Close in one line. Move the patient up the ladder quickly, because liquid diets cannot meet needs for long.

Scoring tip: A four-column table (diet, foods, uses, adequacy) is the fastest way to cover all four diets.