Workshop: Being smart about Bariatric Equipment
– Thinking beyond safe working load
Technology Park Function Centre, Bentley
Thursday, 13 May 2021
Occupational therapists and physiotherapists working in hospitals, aged care, disability and the community attended our bariatric equipment workshop to learn more about equipment suited for the plus-sized and to share their challenges prescribing and using equipment for those living with obesity.
Facilitated by Unicare Health’s clinical educator, Annette Terranova, this workshop offered attendees the opportunity to become familiar with different body type presentations of those living with obesity and to enable functional equipment prescription for these individuals.
Annette is an occupational therapist with over 30 years of experience as a clinician and consultant. She is highly sought after go-to person by therapists for expert equipment advice and equipment solutions.
For the purpose of this workshop, Annette defined an individual living with obesity as one whose weight and/or size interferes with their ability to move and function within normal patterns.
This workshop provided the guidelines to assist with prescribing or scripting healthcare equipment that matches a client’s body type to facilitate function, safety, comfort and quality of life.
With the continual growth of obesity rates world-wide and the implications related to the development of chronic health conditions for those living with obesity, it is important to recognise the challenges related to care and functional equipment prescription for these individuals.
Clinicians responsible for this equipment prescription require awareness of the specific needs of each plus size individual and the criteria that equipment needs to facilitate functional independence, comfort, safety and a sense of well-being.
Using Unicare Health’s range of equipment designed for the plus sized population, Annette discussed the suitability of these pieces of equipment for different body type presentations.
Annette reminded clinicians to always think beyond safe working load when prescribing equipment and whilst weight is significant, it is the way in which a person’s body mass is distributed that is the key to finding the right fit.
Starting with wheelchairs and seating systems, she talked about seating considerations for different body presentations and showed therapists how some pieces of equipment have been designed with tissue displacement in mind.
She also shared tips for transfers and introduced clinicians to more appropriate pieces of equipment such as a powered pivot frame to encourage an open posture, achieve better positioning and reduce manual handling stress.
This workshop provided a connection between the care, safety, comfort, dignity and enablement of a person living with obesity and the prescription of healthcare equipment.
Attendees had an enjoyable time exploring various pieces of healthcare equipment for the larger population and learned lots of tips and techniques to facilitate better equipment choice for different body presentations.
Thank you
Unicare Health would like to thank everyone who took the time to attend our bariatric equipment workshop.
We trust that everyone had a rewarding time learning more about the challenges associated with prescribing bariatric equipment and the design implications of these products so as to become better equipment prescribers for the bariatric population.
Your enthusiasm to upskill and improve your client’s health and wellbeing, and your never ending support for Unicare Health keeps us going. We can’t wait to host more of these workshops for you!
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Posted on 1 June 2021