Hospitals and doctors are investing in adjustments for obese patients: iron-wrought waiting room chairs, wheelchairs and beds made to sustain extra weight, and toilets mounted to the floor, not the wall. Indianapolis Star reports.
The trend started about a decade ago when bariatric surgery took off in popularity and the American public began ballooning in weight. By the mid-2000s, hospitals had started to update with these patients in mind. That can mean anything from wider doorways to bigger commodes.
More than a third of U.S. hospitals invested in renovations to serve obese and morbidly obese patients better. In the past year, some hospitals have spent as much as $5 million in updates, according to the 2012 Novation report released last month.
And hospitals have been trying to make all these changes sensitively – taking care not to identify patients as an obese patient through the whole journey.
As it turns out, these adjustments benefits thinner patients too:
[Via Indianapolis Star]
Image by arriba via Flickr
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com