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Member 53613 · 03-31-2006, 09:39 AM

I saw a post in the Topics in Healthcare forum and it made me think. The topic was about extra large ambulances for obese patients.

So how does obesity impact rural medicine? Big academic medical centers have extra-large beds and things like that, but how do small hospitals cope with patients who are too big for traditional equipment? How do you handle patients who need to lose so much weight?

Obesity is certainly becoming more prevalent, and it's obviously important for preventative medicine (like in primary care) to educate patients about getting their weight down and maintaining a healthy weight. But it's so easy to be accusatory and condescending if you're not careful, so how do you guys handle it?

03-31-2006, 09:39 AM	#1
Member 53613 Sally 2.0 Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Strawberry Field Posts: 2,540	Obesity I saw a post in the Topics in Healthcare forum and it made me think. The topic was about extra large ambulances for obese patients. So how does obesity impact rural medicine? Big academic medical centers have extra-large beds and things like that, but how do small hospitals cope with patients who are too big for traditional equipment? How do you handle patients who need to lose so much weight? Obesity is certainly becoming more prevalent, and it's obviously important for preventative medicine (like in primary care) to educate patients about getting their weight down and maintaining a healthy weight. But it's so easy to be accusatory and condescending if you're not careful, so how do you guys handle it?