Development of a Bariatric Mannequin System to Enable Realistic Examination Simulations of Obese Patients

Project Summary Abstract The proposed project focuses on creating a bariatric mannequin simulator to educate healthcare students on proper techniques specific and specialized to bariatric patient careSignificanceObesity is one of the world s most significant and growing health problemsMore thaninadults are overweight or have obesity and obese patients have a greater likelihood of requiring clinical intervention than those who are not overweightAs suchhealthcare professionals must be prepared to care for bariatric patientsUnfortunatelyonly a few bariatric mannequins are available in the market today and those that do exist are used primarily for patient transfer trainingHypothesisWe hypothesize that creation of a realistic bariatric mannequin system will support enhanced learning interactions and increase knowledge transfer for clinical education in addressing the care of obese and overweight patientsSpecific AimsTo prove feasibility of the proposed system in Phase IIDL and its collaborators willconsult with an expert advisory panel at multiple developmental milestonesprototype the bariatric mannequin materials and mechanical design anddevelop simulation electronics and functionality Project Narrative Obesity is one of the world s most significant and growing health problemsMore thaninadults are overweight or have obesityObese patients have a greater likelihood of requiring clinical intervention than those who are not overweightAs suchhealthcare professionals must be prepared to care for bariatric patients by obtaining an understanding that medical complications and comorbidities in a bariatric patient do not present and are not always treated in the same way as a normal healthy patient