One of the fastest growing patient populations in health care today is the “bariatric” group. Bariatric is the term used to describe obese patients who require medical intervention. Demographic variables suggest that this group will continue to increase in number.
Albert Einstein Healthcare Network has committed to meeting the needs of significantly overweight patients. Medical-surgical interventions, acute rehabilitation services, and psychiatric supports and programs are in place to address the unique needs of these individuals. Nonetheless, similar to other institutions, anecdotal information and outcomes data suggest that the organization needs to continue to focus attention on meeting the needs obese patients. Using an ad hoc working group structure within a Shared Governance model, the nursing organization has developed a bariatric patient care project based on evidence-based practice (EBP) principles.
The working group co-chairs conducted a review of the literature specific to the bariatric patient. The literature was made available to working group committee members. One researcher who had developed and published a nurse attitude scale toward obese patients was contacted for permission to use the instrument. Pending Institutional Review Board approval, this attitude scale will be used to obtain a network benchmark of nurse attitudes toward obese patients.
The working group consists of a nurse researcher, nurse manager, and two staff nurses. Other members will be solicited via flyers posted on nursing units that provide care to a significant number of bariatric patients. Based upon the literature, several educational interventions are planned to improve nurse attitudes. Selected interventions include videotaped discussions with obese patients sharing their stories and perspectives, nursing grand rounds sharing the bariatric EBP activities, and an EBP newsletter disseminating the findings of the working group and synthesizing the review of the literature. This working group model will serve as a prototype for future EBP committees.
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Sigma Theta Tau International
9 July 2003