Obesity forces a hospital to modify services
April 02 2006 at 11:47AM
St Louis - Going to the hospital is rarely fun. If you weigh over 135kg like Beth Henk, it can be embarrassing.
"I've flipped an examination table - I sat on the end of it and it just flipped up," said Henk, who weighs 335kg.
Today Henk helps Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St Louis find better ways to deal with the growing number of very obese patients, an issue for many hospitals in the United States where obesity is a growing problem.
The hospital is replacing beds and wheelchairs with bigger models, widening doorways, buying larger CT scan machines, even replacing slippers and gowns.
'We ran the data again to make sure we weren't hallucinating'
Last year, patient care director Colleen Becker looked at a daily hospital census - about one-third of the 900 patients weighed 158kg or more. On some days, half the patients seen were obese. Some weighed 225kg or more.
"We ran the data again to make sure we weren't hallucinating," Becker said. "We weren't. So we had to somehow figure out the appropriate supplies, equipment, training and care for the patients we're dealing with."
The answer was a "bariatric care team", which Henk serves on, to address the challenges posed by obese patients. Those challenges were many.
At Barnes-Jewish, lift machines now help some patients get in and out of bed. Chairs have been made stronger and wider. Lights have been added at floor level because the bodies of extremely obese people can cast a shadow that makes it hard to see the floor.
Some wings of Barnes-Jewish have widened doorways and bathrooms were fitted with floor-mounted toilets that cannot be pulled out of the wall, and rooms were reconfigured so patients could essentially get out of bed and step into the bathroom.
Some wings of Barnes-Jewish have widened doorways and bathrooms
Gowns are bigger. Wheelchairs are wider. Even hospital-issued slippers come in extra-large sizes because standard-issued footies were cutting off circulation for some patients.
Operating tables have been widened because the girth of some patients was lapping over the table, in some cases all the way to the floor, Becker said. Syringe needles 11.43cm long could not penetrate the fat and were lengthened.
In fact, Barnes-Jewish is striving to make even the end more dignified.
Becker said the law requires a leak-proof body bag. Some patients were so large they would not fit in them. The hospital is now working with a vendor to develop a wider bag. - Sapa-AP
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