Learn what is being done before any obesity surgery

Bariatric curriculum prepares for obesity surgery

With the newly created Bariatric Curriculum, the ZfbC, Thun Abdominal Surgery and Swiss1Chirurgie prepare their patients even better for the upcoming obesity surgery. In a seminar, all questions regarding preparation and execution, anaesthesia and the time after the surgical intervention are answered and essential procedures are explained. More information and safety are the objectives of the Bariatric Curriculum, which was developed especially for the overweight patients.

Every operation is a serious procedure that always involves certain risks. This also applies to bariatric surgery, even if it can be carried out minimally invasively in large numbers, i.e. without large surgical openings of the abdominal wall.

Many patients have a great interest in knowing how such operations are carried out and what is actually done. This is less about the specific techniques and procedures. Rather, patients are interested in how such an operation is prepared, how it proceeds and what risks are to be expected. And it is also interesting how to behave after such an intervention.

In order to be able to cover this justified interest as far as possible, the Centre for Bariatric Surgery ZfbC, the Abdominal Surgery Thun and Swiss1Chirurgie, under the essential leadership of Dr. med. Sebastien Trachsel, have developed a Bariatric Curriculum, which can provide answers to the most important but also personal questions of patients. This will make a significant contribution to more information, education and patient safety.

What the Bariatric Curriculum does

Anyone preparing for obesity surgery has many questions. The better such questions can be answered, the greater the patient’s confidence in dealing with the upcoming operation. Patients can take part in this bariatric curriculum as early as two to three weeks before the planned surgery.

The short but very informative seminar explains which clinical procedures are required and how the anaesthesia will proceed. In addition, of course, there is the general information provided by the surgeon, so that after about two hours of seminar the patients are well prepared for their individual operation. Of course, this does not exclude personal counselling and care directly at the clinic. Rather, this is part of the preparation for the operation and helps to objectively classify concerns, fears and reservations. This is also helped by the fact that directly after the bariatric curriculum there is the opportunity to ask personal questions and receive the appropriate answers.

This is especially important for patients who are undergoing surgery for the first time or who have already had less positive experiences in other operations. Knowing everything that is coming is an essential part of obesity surgery, which is a not insignificant intervention in the future shape of one’s life.

This also means that the dietary changes required before and after the operation can be discussed in detail. This way, the patients already know what their special menu will look like in the clinic. Physiotherapeutic counselling and care are also part of the obesity surgery. How do you get up after the procedure? What should be considered in the movement? How is scar protection ensured? These are also questions of general and personal interest that should and must be discussed in the run-up to the operation.

The bariatric curriculum also includes thrombosis prophylaxis, so that our patients know in advance how they can set the points themselves and thus actively participate in the success of their obesity surgery.

The strength of the bariatric curriculum, which we have developed especially for our overweight patients, lies in the totality of counselling, care and support already two to three weeks before the surgical intervention.

We see more information, more security and more self-participation in the process as an important and essential contribution in the interest of our patients, whom we also want to prepare well for the upcoming operation and life afterwards with the Bariatric Curriculum in seminar form and by answering their personal questions.

Overweight patients need long follow-up care

Swiss1Chirurgie offers aftercare following obesity surgery

From their many years of experience, the specialists at Swiss1Chirurgie know that many patients do not receive any or only inadequate medical aftercare following obesity surgery. In this context, consistent and regular follow-up care of patients is enormously important if the success of gastric surgery is not to be gambled away. Furthermore, complications after bariatric surgery can endanger the health or even the life of the patients concerned.

Based on this knowledge, the Swiss1Chirurgie clinics offer continuous follow-up care and treatment for patients, even if they have not been operated on in a Siwss1Chirurgie clinic. In this way, the Swiss1Chirurgie clinics make a valuable and important contribution to the sustainable success of obesity therapy for all patients who have not yet received regular, long-term follow-up care.

Swiss1Chirurgie offers an end-to-end treatment concept

Those who face up to their obesity problem must also be aware that successful long-term treatment is an ongoing process that also requires specialist medical support. Especially when the problem of morbid obesity is associated with surgical interventions, long and professional aftercare is needed.

Time and again we meet patients in the Swiss1Chirurgie clinics who are left to their own devices after bariatric surgery. And yet, especially after stomach reduction or similar surgical procedures, it is urgently necessary to accompany and care for these patients in their further development.

The success of obesity surgery always depends on the follow-up care that follows. Follow-up surgeries and counselling also help to ensure long-term and lasting weight loss success. Here, the specialists at Swiss1Chirurgie offer a professional concept of aftercare and further treatment.

After the operation comes the actual treatment

In cases of morbid obesity, surgical treatment is always only one of many steps to improve the health of the affected person. Even in the run-up to the surgical procedures, we work together with the patients to ensure that the conditions for the stomach operation can be created. Once the operation is over, however, the process continues.

In addition to the regular discussions and examinations in the follow-up care, it is not uncommon for further interventions to be necessary if the success of the first stomach operation is not to be jeopardised. In many cases, follow-up operations are even part of the treatment concept and are designed to ensure overall success in the treatment of obesity.

Accordingly, thorough counselling, care and support for patients after the first operation is not an optional extra, but a must. For the sake of the patients, their health and their efforts to achieve an improved quality of life.

Aftercare is often neglected

As already noted, we repeatedly come across patients from other clinics where follow-up care after obesity surgery is clearly neglected or, in the worst case, not carried out at all. This not only poses risks to the success of the obesity surgery, but can even be life-threatening.

Complications that are recognised too late or not at all, unabated inappropriate dietary behaviour and a number of other reasons lead to the success of the stomach operation being gambled away and, in an emergency, the patient’s life being put at risk. We therefore urge all patients who have undergone obesity surgery to contact one of the Swiss1Chirurgie clinics with their problems in the event that follow-up care is lacking or inadequate. Online you will find a simple questionnaire that will give you first clues and possibilities for a professional and continuous aftercare. Use this questionnaire to get into initial contact with us.

Swiss1Chirurgie takes over the aftercare

Knowing that many patients do not receive consistent and long-term follow-up care after a surgical procedure related to an obesity problem, we offer such regular and professional follow-up care for all obesity patients.

This offer also expressly applies to patients who have undergone an operation for obesity surgery at another clinic. In this way, we want to ensure that all patients receive exactly the follow-up care and treatment that is appropriate to their particular situation. After all, the long-term success of obesity surgery is always based on professional, regular and lasting aftercare.

As an affected patient, contact us to schedule an initial consultation. Ideally, you should fill in our online questionnaire. We will then contact you as soon as possible to discuss the further steps of targeted obesity therapy, even after an obesity operation has already been performed.

Find out more at nachsorge.ch