How prepared is your hospital for bariatric pts?

[Lenap]

It is very challenging to care for a bariatric patient. This past weekend I had a morbidly obese man (475 pounds). I was extremely upset at how unprepared our hospital was at providing this man with the equipment that he requested few weeks prior to his surgery. Few days post-op the hospital did rent him an extra wide bed and extra-wide bedside commode. Transfering patient to that bedside commode was a challenge. The problem was it took 6 people to get this patient out of bed on day shift.(1 nurse injured her back at that time) With only 4 of us on nightshift, we were unsuccesful in getting this pt. up. I felt really sad and helpless because this patient required turning, repositioning and transfer out of the bed that I could not provide. Not having the appropriate equipment results in patient discomfort and can result in serious injury to patient or us caregivers! How does your hospital prepares for and accommodates bariatric patients? Any suggestions are welcome! Thank you.

[June55Baby]

This is one reason why our hospital has decided to wait awhile before offering bariatrics, the special needs of these patients were so great. Not only equipment needs, but special medical/psychaitric care as well. There are already 3 hospitals in our area performing these procedures, we will just work on getting better at the procedures we already do!

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

We do bariatric surgery and we ALWAYS have a bariatric cart (rated to 1000 pounds) readily available for us in the ER. Even if you don't do bariatric surgery - you must be prepared to handle morbidly obese patients. This certainly is something your hospital needs to address.

[mattsmom81]

At the last hospital we were on staff at, we would get bariatric postops in our ICU and it was always a problem. The facility did not want to pay for adequate equipment and staff. More often than not these patients were NOT ambulated/moved postop like they 'should' have because of the risk to ourselves as healthcare workers; there comes a point when we have to look out for our own joints and backs and not be martyrs. We got to the point where we had to be honest with these patients and explain what was going on...most understood our limitiations...and of course when they complained to administration the nurses were reprimanded. Still..I am not sacrificing my musculoskeletal system because my facility won't provide adequate help or equipment.