new hospital will be able handle patients up to 500 pounds
- From: "TC" <tunderbar@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 11 Jul 2005 06:51:36 -0700
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8538512/
Supersized health care
Nation's weight problem adds to hospitals' ills
By Erin Moriarty
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET July 10, 2005
When DeKalb Medical Center at Hillandale opens this month in Lithonia,
every bed in the new hospital will be able handle patients up to 500
pounds, compared with standard beds that hold up to 350 pounds.
Bigger beds, supersized stretchers and double-wide wheelchairs are
becoming more common at Atlanta hospitals. As the nation's weight
problem balloons, hospitals are stretching to care for heavier patients
that require special gear and extra attention -- often at a higher cost
and a greater strain on hospital employees.
"At a time when we're having less reimbursements and now we're faced
with greater expenses of modifying our equipment to be safe, it's a
real struggle for hospitals financially," said Tracey Wilds, a clinical
nurse specialist at Emory Crawford Long Hospital who serves on a
hospital committee on equipment safety.
Many hospitals are furnished with standard hospital beds built for
patients up to 350 pounds, so they typically have to rent bigger beds
or special mattress pads to accommodate larger patients. Although many
of the expenses are reimbursed by insurance, hospitals still bear much
of the cost of accommodating the obese, said hospital officials.
At DeKalb Medical Center's main campus in Decatur, the hospital rents
high-capacity mattress pads for obese patients up to 500 pounds at a
cost of $100 a day. If the patient weighs more than 500 pounds, the
hospital rents a special bed for $140 a day, which must be broken down
to get through doorways and then reassembled in patient rooms.
So when DeKalb Medical Center started building its new location in
Lithonia, executives opted for bigger beds from the beginning.
"For us, it generates a significant cost," said Brent Robinson, vice
president of patient-care services at DeKalb Medical Center. "In
looking at that expense, we felt we should go ahead and purchase beds
that can hold patients up to 500 pounds."
The hospital will also feature a wide selection of supersized
equipment, ranging from wheelchairs to bed-side toilets. Even the lobby
and waiting rooms will have wider chairs and chairs without arms to
accommodate heavy patients and their family members.
"We're seeing more larger patients, so we need the equipment to handle
large-sized people," said Carolyn Drumm, Hillandale assistant
administrator and director for patient-care services.
While 400-pound patients may sound unusual, nurses say they're becoming
much more common.
"In some units where it was the exception, now it's almost swinging
toward the norm," Wilds said. "It's not all the time, but it's pretty
often."
About 30 percent of American adults are obese, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
And heavier patients are taking a toll on hospital employees.
"As our patients get larger, we've had more work injuries with our
nursing staff," said Cindy Walker, director of professional nursing
development at Piedmont Hospital. "If you have a 400-pound patient, a
lot of times it takes four nurses to lift the patient."
Piedmont Hospital recently started a pilot program testing new,
high-capacity lifts in several units to help nurses move large
patients. So far, the lifts have curtailed nurses' on-the-job injuries,
Walker said.
Emory Crawford Long bought a lift that can pick up a patient weighing
as much as 1,000 pounds. The hospital system also purchased a CT
scanner that accommodates patients up to 450 pounds, Wilds said.
"It's not even just fitting people in, but how accurate can it be,"
Wilds said of the CT scan. "The technology has to keep developing to be
able to correctly do an image, because the larger the size, the more
difficult it is."
>>From CT scans to lifts, many new types of equipment are being sold to
help hospitals cope. Hill-Rom Services Inc., a major manufacturer of
hospital equipment, recently introduced a product called "Air Pal" that
uses high-pressure air to help lift patients weighing up to 1,200
pounds out of bed.
The company has a whole line of bariatric hospital equipment ranging
from beds and commodes to wheelchairs and walkers.
"We're seeing a significant increase in hospitals looking for help with
this," said Suzanne Bish, Hill-Rom's head of operational marketing for
bariatrics.
Manufacturers have also modified the standard bed to accommodate up to
500 or 600 pounds.
Stryker Corp. (NYSE: SYK) recently added a power handle to the bed so
that even a 100-pound nurse can move the bed with a patient weighing up
to 500 pounds. The company also recently introduced stretchers for
emergency rooms that have a capacity of up to 700 pounds, said Pat
Anderson, vice president of strategy and communications.
Neither company would release sales figures on their high-capacity
hospital equipment, but both acknowledged that part of their business
keeps expanding as the number of obese Americans grows.
The American Hospital Association doesn't track hospital spending on
obesity-related equipment, but an association spokesperson said medical
centers nationwide are grappling with the problem.
"It's an epidemic. It's everywhere in the United States," said Daniel
Apuzzo, a regional sales manager for equipment manufacturer Tuffcare
Inc. "When hospitals get [obese patients], they need equipment. They
have no choice, it's something they're dealing with."
It's also a challenge for manufacturers to keep building bigger and
stronger equipment.
"We set up a guy last week who is 900 pounds," Apuzzo said. "It was a
1,000-pound [capacity] bed, but still he broke some of the features off
it."
Hospitals continue to provide high-quality care for obese patients by
ordering supersized stretchers and wider wheelchairs. But the obesity
trend is putting hospitals in the uncomfortable predicament of catering
to a condition that often leads to life-threatening illnesses such as
heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
When treating obese patients, nurses take on the task of counseling
them about weight loss.
"One of our greatest responsibilities is that we're educating the
public as to the dangers of obesity and making sure that the resources
are there for people who want to change their lives," Robinson said.
"When those patients come in we make sure that they get dietary
consults and get taught about the risk of being obese."
Nurses say it's a delicate balance to provide comfortable care for an
obese patient, while also nudging them toward a healthier lifestyle.
"We're here to deal with whatever disease they come in with," Wilds
said. "[Obesity] is another aspect of patient education that we need to
handle, but it's not for us to judge and it's not our place to be
critical. We want them to feel comfortable to seek out health-care
professionals, not feel like they'll never want to go to the doctor
again."
-----
TC
.
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