BWH Leads Effort to Set Obesity Surgery Standards in MA
In January 2004, seven members of BWH’s clinical staff, in conjunction
with 17 other Massachusetts-based medical professionals, formed a taskforce with
the goal of developing a comprehensive report on improving patient safety in weight
loss surgery (WLS) programs and procedures. The taskforce, commissioned by the
Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Betsy Lehman Center for
Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction (Lehman Center), was chaired by Alan
Harvey, MD, MBA, from BWH’s Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Department and produced more than 100 evidence-based recommendations providing
the state with some of the first-ever guidelines addressing WLS.
Harvey’s BWH colleagues, who joined him in the mission of developing
aggressive patient safety guidelines, supported recommendations made public in
early August 2004, including identifying surgeon proficiency, patient education
and informed consent. These members, and the task groups on which they served,
included:
- Andy Whittemore, MD, chair, Facilities and Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement
Resources task group
- Janet Barnes, RN, JD, Patient Education/Informed Consent task group
- David Lautz, MD, Surgical Care taskforce
- Barbara Hodges, RD, MPH, LDN, Multidisciplinary Evaluation and Treatment task
group
- Catherine Breen, RN, MS, Nursing Perioperative Care task group
According to Harvey, “This report will define the best practices for weight
loss surgeries and set the standards for excellence. I am proud to have worked
with such a dedicated group whose input was instrumental in developing the guidelines
that best addressed patient safety.”
Whittemore stated, “This effort is one of the most significant efforts
related to weight loss surgeries and will ultimately have nationwide impact. As
a group, we were pleased at not only the outcome, but also the collaboration that
allowed us to strengthen our network for information sharing, benchmarking and
continued improvements in patient care with healthcare institutions around the
state.”
To view the full report, please visit http://www.mass.gov/dph/betsylehman/index.htm