didate for same-day surgery. "It's not What do you weigh? but rather
What is your body mass index? that we ask," says anesthesiologist
Steven Gayer, MD, MBA, chief of surgery and anesthesia at Bascom
Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Fla., and chair of the American Society
8 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A P R I L 2 0 1 8
BMI alone will not tell
you whether the
patient will have
problems during sur-
gery, says Steven
Gayer, MD, MBA,
chief of surgery and
anesthesia at Bascom
Palmer Eye Institute
in Miami, Fla., and
chair of the American
Society of
Anesthesiologists'
Ambulatory Surgical
Care Committee. Dr. Gayer says you should consider other risk
factors, including:
• Environmental. Your equipment can be a limiting factor in
treating high-BMI patients. "Do you have an OR table that can
accommodate patients that size? Transport beds? Blood pres-
sure cuffs?" says Dr. Gayer.
• Surgical. You have more leeway with procedures that can be
done with minimal or no sedation and have a minor physiological
Risk Factors Besides BMI
• WEIGHING HEAVILY Facilities everywhere are struggling to deal with larg-
er and larger patients.
PROBLEM PATIENT?
