PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island Hospital last week announced that it has been designated a “bariatric surgery center of excellence” by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the largest society for this specialty in the world.
Bariatric surgery, also known as gastric bypass surgery, is a complex procedure used with morbidly obese patients who have been unable to lose weight through diet and exercise.
Because those patients present increased surgical risks as well as psychosocial challenges, the society makes a point of identifying health care providers that are particularly good with such procedures, both to help patients and to help surgeons and hospitals improve.
To become a “center of excellence,” hospitals must, among other things:
• Perform at least 125 bariatric surgical cases per year, with each applicant surgeon having performed at least 125 total bariatric cases, ever, and at least 50 in the previous year.
• Maintain a full complement of staff for the care of bariatric surgical patients who can respond within 30 minutes.
• Have a designated nurse serving bariatric surgical patients and involved in continuing education in the care of bariatric patients.
• Make an organized and supervised support group available for all patients who have undergone bariatric surgery at the institution.
Rhode Island Hospital’s program, led by Dr. G. Dean Roye, has successfully treated more than 2,000 patients since 2000, according to a hospital news release. The program also employs the state’s first certified bariatric nurse, Kellie Armstrong, who also underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost 125 pounds.
To learn more about bariatric surgery at Rhode Island Hospital, go to www.lifespan.org.
