Does being a Center of Excellence mean you have the largest surgical group of doctors or the largest hospital facility? Do you get it with the most dollars spent of advertising? How much is it dependent on the surgeons, hospital and staff who are dedicated to the mission and support of the bariatric program?

In a recent article written in the WLS Lifestyles magazine were listed the ten specific criteria for excellence according to the Surgical Review Corporation (SRC) and the American Society for Bariatric Sur-gery (ASBS) for the Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence (BSCOE) program.

1. Facilities must have commitment to the highest levels of medical staff and administration in the care of bariatric patients. Everyone that comes into contact with bariatric patients from nurses to radiologist must have specialized training and understanding in delivering care with compassion and skill.

2. Surgeons must perform at least 125 total bariatric cases in their lifetime with at least 50 cases within a 12-month period. Research reports that surgeons who perform more than 125 surgeries in their lifetime have better results and fewer mortalities, re-operations ad revisions than other surgeons.

3. The program must have a designated physician Medical Director for bariatric surgery. This insures that opinions, needs and ideas of the bariatric program are well represented a the highest level of the institution. It demonstrates that the program is a vital and relevant asset and important to the long-term care of the bariatric patients.

4. The hospital maintains a full staff, services and immediate availability of an ACLS –qualified physician on site with experience in urgent treatment and life threatening medical emergencies, including a multi-disciplinary team of specialists such as endo-scopists, cardiologists, anes-thesiologists and pulmonologists available with 30 minutes of request.

5. The hospital must have a full line of equipment, instruments and other suitable facilities specifically designed for com-fort and safety for morbidly obese patients including trained staff.

6. The program requires that surgeons don’t just do bariatric surgery, but that they specialize in it. Surgeons must have appropriate board certifi-cation, Surgeons who offer coverage when the surgeon is not available are required to be board certified and participate regularly in bariatric sur-gery and continuing medical education courses and must assist in a significant number of surgical procedures.

7. The hospital and surgeons must use clinical pathways and orders of standardized care for procedures. This allows for effective evaluations and leads to safer surgery for patients.

8. Must provide ongoing education for those who elect to have bariatric surgery. Suc-cess is a joint effort between patients and caregivers. Nutri-tional needs, importance of exercise and behavior modification, such as addictions, recovery, self-esteem, body image, relationships, and spiri-tual issues are all components of ensuring safe and appropriate weight loss and long-term weight management success.

9. The bariatric surgery program must have organized and su-pervised support groups for all patients. The more support patients receive the more lasting success they will have. Support groups must have a health care professional in attendance to address con-cerns and questions.

10. The hospital and surgeons must provide long-term follow-up for patients. Tracking of surgery results ultimately improves bariatric surgery, es-tablishing more rigorous criteria and standards to become a center of excellence as well help identify the most effective methods for performing bariatric surgery, resulting in pa-tient success.

If you are considering surgery, or just want to be encouraged by patients who have great testimonials, check out Bariatric Edge.  You'll find the website under the "Links" heading to the left of this page. 

Bariatric Edge has video on their site from health care professional as well as patients.  I found this site very informative and encouraging when searching out answers to my questions about bariatric surgery.  Hearing from patients who had the same concerns and to see the results was impressive. 

I will continue to add links on surgery and helpful subjects such as protein sources.  I found some new sources of protein just recently, as soon as my shipment gets here I'll try them out and let you know what I think...  stay tuned...