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From: Anne Hudson
Date: 15 Jun 2005
Time: 00:10:01 -0400
Remote Name: 209.181.51.158
Thank you for the observation that only in the healthcare industry is 150 lbs considered “light”! In your work with safe patient handling programs, how are hospitals addressing the safe lifting and movement of bariatric patients in the operating room? Bariatric patients are often transported into the OR in low bariatric beds which do not rise to the height of the OR table. There may be a considerable difference between the two surfaces so the patient must be lifted up from the bed onto the table. The danger of lifting up bariatric patients onto the OR table is magnified when the bariatric patient arrives for spinal surgery. The patient must then be lifted up from the low bed and turned prone onto the table. Currently, some OR staff are leaning across the OR table and stretching down to the lower bariatric bed for the patient to be rolled over prone onto their arms. Then, they lift up and pull the patient prone onto the table and must then extricate their arms from beneath the patient. Thanks much for any info you have on the safe handling of bariataric patients in the OR. Anne Hudson, RN