800lbs plus man

chadash · Apr 5, 2006

I don't think that will work because the patient needs to be weight bearing. Typically it is just a lift for folks to go from a dangle to a standing position for ease of transfer or to help with ADL's. Can't tell you how wonderful it is for people needing to go to the bedside commode all the time, or in/out of wheelchairs. It is a snap! No lifting on the helpers part, the only physical demands are getting the harness under them, and pushing the lift to where they need to go...and the lifts are easy to push! (carpet a little harder but still very easy).
The only probelm I see with these are limitations in hospitals or small roomed facilities where the lift can barely get in or move...but they are smaller than your typical hoyer.

I have used the hoyer and the standing frame (it is not for transfer, you transfer a pt that is not able to stand at all to a seat, strap in their legs, and pump them into a fully supported standing position. it is great for circulation, bone mass, and even regularity in a paralized pt. dont know why I cant spell paralysed today!)

But the lift you are talking about, wow! we all should have those! It is probably safer for the patient. Less falls? wonderful!

LydiaNN · Apr 5, 2006

Re obese patients...My experience in both the ICU and the ER with obese patients has not been positive. There always are the exceptions that are sweet or funny. Most have been rude and demanding, aggressive not assertive.
In some respects, obese patients are the new AIDS patient. It doesn't matter how they got obese, what matters is that they are. And, like universal precautions that started to protect nurses from AIDS, nurses need to have obesity precautions that protect them from the dangers posed by obese patients...in particular, chronic back pain and herniated disc's.

You make good points about the need for nurses to take safety precautions to avoid injury. I just don't see the tie in with your perception of these patients as being rude and demanding. Surely you don't provide a different standard of care based on whether or not you like someone. It doesn't seem to have any bearing on the valid observations you make in the second part of your post.

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Apr 5, 2006

Yes, the lifts are WONDERFUL! But very very costly! So many facilities will not purchase them unless they feel pressured by injuries or the current trends towards no lift facilities (YEAH!).

Heck, if I remember correctly, the slings alone are 2,000 bucks! And they do have some for overweight people, but with limitations. They also have battery back up, and manual controls for battery low, so people don't get stuck in them (have had that happen in automated hoyers before!).

With the barriatric patient this would be of benfit! Instead of having to do gurneys all the time, you can transfer to a barriatric wheel chair easily with minimal assistance and injury (as long as they can bear some weight for short periods of time).

We tested ours on a wheelchair ramp with a 300 lb woman to test the breaking mechs and general function and it passed with flying colors!!!! It even has a lay to sit or stand for fall patients (another harness adaption needed). I even tried it out...very comfortable and less scary then hanging idle in a hoyer (that made me dizzy!). No foot or leg dangle to injure, and arms are placed on a bar to keep arm injury from occuring! It even has different sized foot holder plates for different sized feet! Very custom, and very versitile and easy!

I fell in love with them!!!!!

grannynurse FNP student · Apr 5, 2006

I wonder if my patient had something like that (prader willi). Is there any remedy for that?

Only if your patient is a peds one. It is a genetic disorder that causes the individual to eat uncontrollably. It is first seen in infants a few months old. They have a very poor sucking reflex, sleep a great deal, have cognitive problems, small hands and feet, to name a few. The only remedy I found was a strictly controlled environment where food is literally locked up. Many of them develop other diseases, such as cardiac, diabetes, pulmonary and die in their twenties. There are several websites, just type in Prader-Willi. I found this disease interesting because of the attitude society takes towards the child and his/her parents. Many believe that all that has to be done is to stop the over eating. They cannot grasp the concept that the child cannot stop eating. They do not have any control over their eating.

Grannynurse:balloons:

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Apr 5, 2006

Oh, that's sad.....where did you find that out?

It was at the end of the show. I just saw it a couple of weeks ago.

He was pretty bitter too.

grannynurse FNP student · Apr 5, 2006

Obesity is an epidemic in the US unfortunately. It is a reflection on our society versus an individual. I too am 50# overweight and I'm no spring chicken as the saying goes. I was recently on the No-Lift team at our hospital in order to make us a no-lift facility. It was demoralizing (to borrow someone else's word) to do site visits and realize that all this equipment exists. In our ER, we now have a bari-bed and bari-cart right at the doorway for our patients that weigh more than 350# because that is all our carts are rated for. We have many, many super obese patients.
BTW - did anyone know that being super obese is a disability under the American's with Disabilities Act?
Prader-Willi syndrome is extremely sad to see. It means constant monitoring by the parents or caregiver and it is a life-time situation. Usually Prader-Willi kids are very physically healthy (few URI's, few viral illnesses, etc). These kids have a normal life-span but it is a life fraught with many weight issues.

I am sorry but I got the impression that these children are not considered healthy. They develop many of the disease that accompany being morbidly obese. And I got my impression from the website of one of their associations.

Grannynurse:balloons:

jschut, BSN, RN · Apr 5, 2006

I saw the video before the link was edited....

Poor guy. But he looked as if he had lost quite a bit when they showed the short spurt of him talking toward the end....

chadash · Apr 5, 2006

Only if your patient is a peds one. It is a genetic disorder that causes the individual to eat uncontrollably. It is first seen in infants a few months old. They have a very poor sucking reflex, sleep a great deal, have cognitive problems, small hands and feet, to name a few. The only remedy I found was a strictly controlled environment where food is literally locked up. Many of them develop other diseases, such as cardiac, diabetes, pulmonary and die in their twenties. There are several websites, just type in Prader-Willi. I found this disease interesting because of the attitude society takes towards the child and his/her parents. Many believe that all that has to be done is to stop the over eating. They cannot grasp the concept that the child cannot stop eating. They do not have any control over their eating.
Grannynurse:balloons:

This young lady may have had that problem. She did have small hands and feet. Her speech problem gave the impression that she was not really bright, but I got the impression she was at least average. Never saw her chart, we did not have access to them in this facility. I think she may have been in her mid thirties. But what a life, to be so young and stuck in bed most of the time. She needed lots of hugs.

BabyRN2Be · Apr 5, 2006

I'm sorry to hear that he died. He looked so good there at end compared to what he's been through. That was inspiring that he was able to loose 400 lbs and was looking to the future.

Just for the record, there were two different programs. One was about someone who lost 400 lbs. I didn't see that one so I don't know what the long term outcome was for this man.

There was a show about another man who weighed 759 lbs and was being treated in a LTC facility. They were doing a program about his struggles, not being able to see his family, not being able to eat the food he wanted to eat, etc. However, he died of septic shock (?) shortly after his arrival. He had many open wounds on his abdomen (at least) and that contributed to his demise. He was 39 years old. Very sad. His wife didn't have the money to travel so she could be with him at the end.

I usually swim where I work out. One day a super obese woman and her husband (also very obese but not as severe as his wife) came down to the pool to swim. Many people stared and gave some disapproving looks as this lady was probably over 400 lbs. All I could think of was that woman deserved a lot of credit for getting into the water and doing what she could do (water walking). Not only was she subjecting herself to the disapproving looks and stares of some, but I applaud her courage to do so, and I also applauded her for taking steps to change her life in a positive manner.

chadash · Apr 6, 2006

I usually swim where I work out. One day a super obese woman and her husband (also very obese but not as severe as his wife) came down to the pool to swim. Many people stared and gave some disapproving looks as this lady was probably over 400 lbs. All I could think of was that woman deserved a lot of credit for getting into the water and doing what she could do (water walking). Not only was she subjecting herself to the disapproving looks and stares of some, but I applaud her courage to do so, and I also applauded her for taking steps to change her life in a positive manner.

Wow! thanks for sharing that. We all have some insecurities about our imperfections, without people staring! She was brave.

kat911 · Apr 6, 2006

Interesting thread. I don't know if all of you are aware that there is a new bed out for the super obese. It will turn the patient for you. It is an air bed and it has a motor so you can drive it where you want it. No longer have to move the patient to a smaller bed for transport. Will hold up to 1000 pounds. The sides and the head and foot will move in or out as needed. It's a great bed. When we have patients like these we rent the special equipment that is needed. There is a new company in the Austin Area (Texas) that rents this equipment. We have a few BariCare beds and our maint. dept made us some super potty chairs that are really nice. We have not had great success with helping these patients survive long term. Just too many complications from the bed confinement. FYI I had a friend who weighed 600 pounds, he was a nursing supervisor, rode a Harley Hogg to work. He had an accident on his Hogg and was tranported to the hospital on top of a fire truck. This was many years ago, he died several months later while on duty, shower of clots from his legs. One of the most unique individuals I ever met! Miss you David.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Apr 6, 2006

I found this disease interesting because of the attitude society takes towards the child and his/her parents. Many believe that all that has to be done is to stop the over eating. They cannot grasp the concept that the child cannot stop eating. They do not have any control over their eating.

Well, I've watched several shows about these kids and I understand it all intellectually. But it would still drive me nuts. On a gut level, they should just stop that. And yes, I know that they can't. But they should. I think that's the problem a lot of society - including me - has with the really obese. Intellectual understanding does not necessarily equal a real grasp of the problem.

I usually swim where I work out. One day a super obese woman and her husband (also very obese but not as severe as his wife) came down to the pool to swim. Many people stared and gave some disapproving looks as this lady was probably over 400 lbs. All I could think of was that woman deserved a lot of credit for getting into the water and doing what she could do (water walking). Not only was she subjecting herself to the disapproving looks and stares of some, but I applaud her courage to do so, and I also applauded her for taking steps to change her life in a positive manner.

When I belonged to a company gym we had one woman who started out at 500 pounds. Her resting heart rate was so high that all she was started on was the upper body ergometer - basically an arm bicycle. Through diet, exercise, and perseverance she took off 300 pounds and her diabetes and hypertension disappeared. I used to sit with her on the mats so we could do abs and stretching together. I was so proud of her. And talk about guts - this was when I worked on Wall Street in NYC. Do you have any idea how judgmental and self-satisfied little yuppie brokers with Prada handbags are? She had major guts.

The hospital where we're doing clinicals does a lot of bariatric so there is SOME equipment around. I realized, though, how heavy we're becoming when that relatively small size of some of the patients startled me. Hugely obese is now just overweight to me.