Patients may need lifts for bariatric surgery
Facilities that offer bariatric surgery need to purchase equipment that can be used safely with those patients, says Michael Silverstein, MD, MPH, clinical professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle.
"Traditional lift equipment has a weight limit of about 450 pounds," Silverstein says. "Bariatric equipment can handle patient weight up to 1,000 pounds."
The Patient Safety Center at the James A. Haley VA Hospital in Tampa defines "bariatric" as patients who weigh more than 300 pounds and have a body mass index of 50 or greater. The center provides a bariatric toolkit for safe patient handling, including special algorithms and checklists. A sample policy provides for at least annual training, bariatric needs assessment, and a bariatric patient handling specialist. [Editor's note: A copy of the sample assessment criteria sheet and equipment checklist is available.]
Even hospitals that don't provide bariatric surgery must be prepared for the occasional patient who will exceed weight limits on standard equipment and create patient handling risks. Special equipment can be leased on an as-needed basis.
Silverstein suggests using drills to practice how staff would assess the patient handling needs of a morbidly obese patient. "You have to think through how you're going to function as a team to manage someone of a weight of that size," he says.
(Editors' note: A Bariatric Toolkit is available at www.visn8.med.va.gov.)
Facilities that offer bariatric surgery need to purchase equipment that can be used safely with those patients, says Michael Silverstein, MD, MPH, clinical professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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