Do you use proper bariatric equipment?

tconlgirl · Dec 23, 2008

I don't know if you are in LTC or acute, but during my brief time working in LTC our facility used rented bariatric equiptment for our bariatric patients, some were on rehab post operatively some were just there for LTC. One of the companies that supplied the equipment was called KCI there are others nationally I think

Anyone know anything else about bariatric patients specialty equiptment and care ?

racing-mom4, BSN, RN · Dec 23, 2008

Thanks---I work in the ICU so by the time the pt comes up from ER it is only a matter of hours at most---this recent admit we got them after 9pm so I dont know if renting will work--now if they were going to the extended care unit or vented then yes I could see renting. It would just take a day or two to line that up...since this pt is new to the community and has an extensive health history I hate to say it but I am guessing we will be getting them again.

We already have an almost 500lb pt that comes in at least 4-6x a year.

Not_A_Hat_Person, RN · Dec 24, 2008

The current issue of the AJN has an article about this.

cookienay · Dec 24, 2008

Hill-Rom provides all of our beds and will bring in a bariatric bed for a patient's stay. We also keep one in house all the time so when they come in to the ER one is available. For an admitted patient, all we do is call the hospital's Hill-Rom rep. and they send a bed over and when pt is discharged, they pick it up. We also have bariatric crutches, BSCs, chairs, wheelchairs, etc... on hand as we serve a very obese population. Your hospital's purchasing dept. or your manager can get a contract with Hill-Rom for these services.

CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN · Dec 24, 2008

I had this issue a while back in our LTC. We rent the big boy beds, but that can take a day or more to get (you would think we would have this ready on admit, huh?). I think our lifts go up to 400 or maybe it is 600 lbs, but we don't have the xl slings for it yet. I've asked for xl bp cuffs, bedpans and bsc. I don't think our toilets are rated that high either. For the most part our largest pt has been in the 350 range and mostly bedridden, so we didn't use many suplies, but yeah...it is getting more common to have the bariatric pts.

Ohh...here is the killer. On 11-7 there are only 3 staff (this is a small ltc, one nurse and 2 cnas) Do the math on managing ADLs and inct care....yeah...not a good match.

RNperdiem, RN · Dec 24, 2008

We rent big beds that can hold up to 1000lb if needed.

The stretchers can hold lots of weight these days. They are heavy to push even when empty though; I guess that is the trade off for being able to support lots of weight.

I love using the maxi-slide sheets to transfer patients from bed to stretcher and back. I am a not very strong person, and the slide sheets work well.

The only piece of equipment I have had trouble with was a morgue cart. This was several years ago, but I had a deceased 400lb lady and a morgue cart with a 350lb weight limit.

racing-mom4, BSN, RN · Dec 24, 2008

We rent big beds that can hold up to 1000lb if needed.
The stretchers can hold lots of weight these days. They are heavy to push even when empty though; I guess that is the trade off for being able to support lots of weight.
I love using the maxi-slide sheets to transfer patients from bed to stretcher and back. I am a not very strong person, and the slide sheets work well.
The only piece of equipment I have had trouble with was a morgue cart. This was several years ago, but I had a deceased 400lb lady and a morgue cart with a 350lb weight limit.

Crap--- I didnt even think of the morgue cart---ours is an old EMS one, it looks like we got it at a EMS garage sale, it has trouble taking a left corner as it is!!! Yep that is something else we need to think about someday...it says alot about our country when the poor can be obese. Not judging here, no slam on medicaid but think about it, where else can a poor person get to be so heavy??? FYI both our morbid obese pts smoke. bad combo.

1BlessedRN · Dec 24, 2008

We have a new admit 407lbs receives dialysis 3x wk well non emergency was there to pick her up today with a regular size stretcher *** (lawd forgive me) stated it wasn't a requirement by law to have a bariatric stretcher...so we had to reschedule her appt don't they realize obesity is more common than ever and everyone needs to have bariatric equipment on hand?

cherrybreeze, ADN, RN · Dec 24, 2008

We are much more making the push as of late to have bariatric equipment....we've even installed ceiling lifts in several rooms that hold up to 1000 lbs (one medical floor did all the rooms, and the lifts even go in to the bathroom)....ours don't do that, since our bariatric patients are more mobile generally (I'm on the surgical floor, so we see more of the Roux en y's, lap bandings, etc. Down one wing we've place bariatric recliners, seats, and commodes. We can rent a "big boy bed" from Hill Rom when needed (the Magnum). Hill Rom will deliever any time of day, and will also have a bed there pre op, if we know it's going to be needed.

I think our stretchers go up to 500....if they're larger than that (most of ours aren't), we'd have to roll them in their beds, with a lot of reinforcements!

KyPinkRN · Dec 24, 2008

We have a new admit 407lbs receives dialysis 3x wk well non emergency was there to pick her up today with a regular size stretcher *** (lawd forgive me) stated it wasn't a requirement by law to have a bariatric stretcher...so we had to reschedule her appt don't they realize obesity is more common than ever and everyone needs to have bariatric equipment on hand?

In transport it's more than just changing your stretcher... the brackets that mount the stretcher into the ambulance have to be compatible as well as special equipment used to load the stretcher without injury to the EMT's. This is very expensive, just like the bariatric equipment that you need in LTC. While its true that poor people can get obese, medicare/medicaid pays less and less each year for their transports, limiting the funds they have to purchase this kind of equipment. I have done transports in emergency situation, where the patient wouldn't fit on our stretcher so we took it out and loaded them into the ambulance on a hospital mattress. Not the safest way to go, but its all we could do. The challenge was that the patient needed to sit up due to dyspnea caused by all the extra weight. Around here we have an ambulance service with a special truck designed for bariatric patients... maybe you could shop around your private ambulance services and see if any of them offers this.

Lizcaregiver · May 11, 2009

I know this is an old post but I have just become involved in bariatric care giving. I have discovered that finding the proper equipment has made a HUGE difference in what I can manage. After hurting myself once, I know I needed some help. I am now working with a home health agency that has helped me find some equipment and I found this wed site recently which has a lot of products that I had never heard of: http://bariatricproductsource.com. I guess I would recommend contacting your home health agency first though...