title: Care of the obese patient with an ostomy.
abstract: Obesity has become the number one health problem in the United States. The patients who is obese and undergoing a surgical procedure that results in the formation of fecal or urinary diversion requires advanced skills of a multidisciplinary healthcare team. Patients who are obese carry a high risk of wound and cardiopulmonary complications and often present a serious challenge in terms of stoma creation and management. The purpose of this article is to examine the risk factors that face the patient who is obese and undergoing stoma surgery, the challenges of stoma creation, and the resultant stoma management problems.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Nurse Specialist, University of Chicago Hospitals, IL 60637, USA. janice.colwell@uchospitals.edu
authors.forename: Janice C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Colwell
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fichera
mesh_terms: D003251:Constriction, Pathologic; D004766:Enterostomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000451:nursing*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D009336:Necrosis; D009720:Nurse Clinicians; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications*; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D018579:Patient Selection; D019990:Perioperative Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000451:nursing; D012307:Risk Factors; D018805:Sepsis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D017592:Skin Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000451:nursing; D014547:Urinary Diversion / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000451:nursing*