NewsDetail
A team of health educators from the Patient and Family Education Department at Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Al Wakra Hospital recently organized a multidisciplinary program to help patients scheduled to have bariatric surgery better understand the surgical weight loss procedure. The group education program, which is a new initiative for HMC, covered the health risks of bariatric surgery and patient-specific conditions that may influence weight loss outcome.
The program, which targeted patients scheduled for a gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy or adjustable gastric band surgery, was designed in collaboration with the Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery, Physiotherapy, Dietetics, and Clinical Pharmacy Departments at Al Wakra Hospital.
Organized and administered by a multidisciplinary team of nine doctors and specialists from various healthcare disciplines, the program also educated patients about the required short and long-term follow-up care required after surgery. According to Ms. Abeer Mohammad Ali, Head of the Patient and Family Education Department at Al Wakra Hospital, the objective of the program is to help patients more fully understand both the therapeutic role of bariatric surgery as well as the potential side effects.
According to Ms. Ali, topics covered during the education session included the importance of pre-operative and post-operative physical activity as a means of maintaining muscle strength and promoting weight loss as well as preventing osteoporosis and enhancing one’s mood.
Dr. Moataz M. Bashah, Director of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery at Hamad General Hospital, Dr. Sabah Adnan, Medical Director of Wakra Hospital, and Ms. Allison Robertson, Executive Director of Nursing at Al Wakra Hospital presented during the session.