Howell says doctors should have at least one wider and sturdier examination table for their larger patients and blood pressure cuffs of several sizes.


"We also see a need for things like chairs in waiting rooms or benches in waiting rooms, rather than little tiny chairs with arms that fat patients cannot comfortably fit into," says Howell.

Bariatric surgery

Although many hospitals can choose not to purchase bariatric furniture for their waiting areas or install floor mounted toilets, facilities that plan on getting designated as a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence (BSCOE) must acquire certain equipment to receive the title.

Dr. David Treen knows this process well. He is a bariatric surgeon in private practice at the Surgical Clinic of Louisiana.

"There's nothing more gratifying than the bariatric surgery," says Treen. "It's challenging, the interfacing with the patients is much different than it was doing routine general surgery, but the gratification is off the charts."

Treen recalls a 17-year-old boy, who was rolled into his office in a wheelchair with a bag of 26 different prescription medications in his lap. Two years after his bariatric surgery, the boy no longer needed any of his medications, was in a normal weight range and had a job.

"That exceeds anything that I get paid to do the surgery," says Treen. "We've seen women who have had infertility issues because of obesity and after they lose weight, they're able to get pregnant, which is tremendously gratifying. We're seeing the dramatic change in the quality of life for these patients," he says.

Treen explains that to receive the BSCOE designation, facilities must have the proper equipment. Everything from the waiting room chairs to the blood pressure cuffs must meet a certain criteria. The staff must also be well-trained to work with bariatric patients.

"We had to have our waiting room furniture retrofitted with steel reinforcement to be able to have it certified to tolerate up to 500 pounds," says Treen.

The Surgical Review Corporation (SRC) is the nonprofit organization responsible for making sure facilities are adequately prepared to handle bariatric surgery patients. SRC manages the BSCOE designation on behalf of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery in the U.S. and Canada.

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