Development of a bariatric patient readiness assessment tool for the emergency department

Morbidly obese patients present safe patient handling challenges to emergency department (ED) personnel. Emergency departments are often ill-equipped to safely manage the patient of this size. The purpose of this study was to develop an assessment tool to determine ED readiness to safely manage the morbidly obese patient. Published guidelines by the Facility Guidelines Institute and the National Association of Bariatric Nurses were used for tool development. The tool assesses policy, equipment, space/structural requirements, and patient handling and -moving tasks. A 2-phase, nonexperimental, exploratory study in a convenience sample of 5 EDs was conducted, applying a usability testing model to determine the usability and utility of the tool. Four of 5 hospital EDs agreed that the tool was easy to use and helpful in determining their readiness to safely manage the morbidly obese patient. The tool was found to be usable on a limited basis. Additional application of the tool on a larger scale is recommended.