Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Nursing (MAN)

Department

Nursing

Abstract

The past several decades have seen drastic increases in obesity worldwide. The United States (U.S.) is one of the leading countries for obese populations and has seen an even greater increase in its morbidly obese population, referred to as bariatric in the health care community. Many health care facilities designed to care for normal weight patients find themselves grappling to provide care for bariatric patients in facilities not built to accommodate their size. Widespread bias against obese patients, gaps in proper space and equipment, and knowledge deficits related to care needs and co-morbidities specific to the bariatric patient population need to be addressed. The purpose of this project is to assist health care facility leaders and unit nurse leaders to lead the way to provide comprehensive and compassionate care of bariatric patients in a sub acute rehabilitation care setting of a large urban veteran's administration [VA] hospital using nurse theorist ]ean Watson's Theory of Human Caring as its guiding framework. This project was developed to educate executive leadership, rehabilitation nurse managers and unit nurse leaders to incorporate the art and science of care for bariatric patients while exploring key concepts of care, presence and interconnectedness to best serve these patients. This project will assist this VA facility in moving forward to provide authentic care in the spirit of mutuality in the nurse-patient relationship.

Identifier

SC 11.MAN.2013.Grimshaw.WK

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