Let's save 'em some money!

This article shows that we should have this procedure if not to save hospitals money, Overweight Patients Force Hospitals to Upgrade Equipment Obesity is taking its toll on hospital equipment. Handling overweight patients has become such a big problem in Maryland that hospitals can't keep up with the need for devices that can accommodate them, the Baltimore Sun reports. "Our standard ... is to purchase equipment that can accommodate a 450-pound patient," Kathy Rogers, a spokeswoman for Western Maryland Health System, told the newspaper. In the meantime, hospitals have to rent the equipment. "We typically rent the beds and bedside commodes," Darlene Fairfax, a spokeswoman for Civista Health, which operates a 110-bed hospital, told the Sun. "This past year our rental cost was $6,784." The problem runs the gamut, according to the article. "We have had to purchase some new lifts to help people get out of beds," the Sun quotes Neil MacDonald, vice president of operations for Union Memorial, a 327-bed hospital in Baltimore, as saying. "For our operating rooms, we have purchased what are called hover mats, which are air-inflated mats that make it easy to transfer the heavier patient from the operating room table into their bed." In addition, he said, the hospital needs larger operating tables, steadier chairs with no arms, and even blood-pressure cuffs. Copyright © 2004 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.