Alvarado Hospital, San Diego Scripps Memorial Hospital,
La Jolla
Alvarado and Scripps Memorial Hospitals
When you make the life altering decision to undergo Bariatric surgery, you need to take great care to select a surgeon whom you trust. You must have full confidence, both professionally and personally, in this individual. But in making this important choice, you must bear in mind that your surgeon has specific hospital affiliations. The experience and quality of the hospital program and personnel are just as important as the surgeon whom you choose. It is estimated that in the average 3 day hospital stay in the U.S., fifty to seventy five people participate in one way or another in your care. Each of these people can alter your medical outcome in a positive or negative way. On a personal level, obese patients are too often treated like second class citizens, even in healthcare. This disheartening but true fact needs to be included in the decision making process. In order to deliver the best medical care, the hospital personnel must understand obesity as the disease that it is, be empathetic and put their heart into their work. The staff at Alvarado and Scripps Memorial Hospitals strive to create an environment of patient comfort, confidence and ease at all times.
In the Spring of 2005 I decided to leave my former affiliation and start a solo practice. I had the option of taking my practice to any hospital that I wanted. I had, over the years, worked at Alvarado Hospital, Scripps Memorial Hospital and Sharp Grossmont Hospital. I carefully considered these alongside all the others, before making my final decision.
I wanted to centralize my practice at hospitals where my patients would receive the very best medical care, with higher than average success rates and lower than average complication rates. But I wanted more for my patients. My patients deserve to enjoy close parking and easy access to a comfortable, hassle free facility which is tailored to their specific needs AND where they will be treated only with kindness and understanding. I wanted to choose hospitals where I would gladly send an obese member of my own family. After a much contemplation, the choice was obvious. I retained affiliation with Alvarado Hospital and Scripps Memorial Hospital. (Just to give you a little perspective, when my father needed a heart procedure, I insisted that he come to Alvarado Hospital, where I knew that he would get the best care available. The hard part was convincing him to come to California! But he did, and thanks to the care at Alvarado, he's happy and healthy and I can enjoy him for years to come.)
What's So Special?
- Alvarado has the longest history in the world of caring for patients who have had laparoscopic gastric bypass. The very first one in the world was performed at Alvarado Hospital. Alvarado also participated in the pioneering FDA trials for the Gastric Banding. Since then, the program at Alvarado Hospital has been used as a "model" to set up other Bariatric Surgery programs all across the country.
- Unlike larger hospitals where the financial resources have to be divided to serve thousands of patients in dozens of subspecialties, both medical and surgical, Alvarado Hospital can allocate a greater bulk of its funding to serve a few select, high quality programs. This has allowed me access to top of the line surgical equipment and specialized support personnel that other larger hospitals simply can't or won't provide. It also allows my patients and their families to enjoy private rooms with state of the art flat screen televisions and customized equipment and furniture that is designed exclusively for obese individuals.
- Besides being an academic pioneer in Bariatric surgery, Alvarado has a feeling of "home": Everyone knows everyone else and people are friendly to one another. This feeling extends to the patients who appreciate being treated with care, by people who take an interest in their welfare. I know virtually everyone in the hospital: custodians, cafeteria workers, techs, nurses and administrators, and I know why they work there - because they enjoy it. They have a personal investment in the reputation of the hospital and in the impression that they leave with every patient. It sounds simple to say so, but it truly makes a difference. People who care deeply about their co-workers and their hospital, and take pride in their work, take better care of the patients. This allows me to go to anyone at any time to seek assistance for any patient with a special request or need. Alvarado is the only hospital I know of where the "person" doesn't get lost in the process of being a patient. I am always delighted to be told by my patients that they were visited by the CEO or the owner of the hospital, who just dropped in to see how they were doing and ask if they needed anything!
- One of the greatest assets to the Alvarado Hospital Surgical Weight Loss program is the nursing staff. The nurses on the Bariatric floor are the best nurses I've ever worked with. They love their jobs and they love my patients. Many of my patients have such affection for the nurses on the unit that when they come to my office for a follow-up visit, they make a special trip to the hospital just to visit the nurses and thank them for their wonderful care. (I'm sure that part of the motivation is to show off their success with the weight loss - which nurses love to be included in.)
- The patient-to-nurse ratios are very low, so we don't have one nurse taking care of more than three patients at a time.
- It's tough to get a position as a nurse on our unit, because our nurses rarely leave! I have worked with the same nurses on our unit for years.
- The Bariatric nursing staff has more than 70 years of combined Bariatric nursing experience. Not just nursing experience, but Bariatric nursing. They are some of the best trained in the country.
- When a very high ranking administrator from Alvarado and a hopsital attorney each had to undergo general surgery, they both chose to be placed on the Bariatric Unit, even though they didn't have Bariatric Surgery! If I ever need general surgery, I will insist that I be taken care of by the nurses on Alvarado's Bariatric unit. No kidding.
- If I have a patient who needs special attention, I just call up to the nursing unit and speak to the nurse directly, whom I know personally. The nurses know my habits, my style, my standard of care, and what I expect of my patients. They take care of my patients as though they are family. The patient is always the focus, not the next lunch or coffee break. It sounds like common sense and that this is the way it should be everywhere, but it's been my experience that it just doesn't happen to be that way at other hospitals. It is a fact that my mortality rate of zero is due in part to the outstanding nursing staff at Alvarado Hospital.
- At Alvarado, the doctors all convene together in a collegial dining room where brains are picked, patient problems are solved, new medical information is shared; there's a feeling of community, and investment in the future of the hospital is held very dear. It is my experience that this doesn't happen elsewhere. As a result, when I have a patient who needs to be seen by a medical specialist, I know the other doctors well enough to know who is best for the job - not only who is the best qualified to deal with the medical problem, but who will "gel" best with my patient's personality.
