Care for Bariatric Surgery Patients

Comorbidities exist from obesity related health conditions, such a hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, etc. Racial and cultural factors also play a part in lifestyle habits and belief systems. With incidences of bariatric surgery on the rise, there is a need for effective strategies to engage post bariatric surgery patients in follow-up care to support healthy weight loss and maintenance and reduce risk of obesity related health conditions. Several studies have examined how group visits, shared medical appointments, and technology could be used in efforts to engage patients in self-management, skills building, and education.

Shared medical appointments (SMA) after bariatric surgery was studied with a two-fold purpose: 1) to design a patient-validated SMA satisfaction survey and 2) to determine satisfaction as a means of follow-up after surgery (Seager, 2012). This study was chosen as an examination of the SMA as an intervention strategy...
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