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A lotta fields. Like, which won't is the better question.
How do you figure?Hospital medicine won't.
Smoking and ETOH use rates in other industrialized countries are much higher. we also have a smaller proportion of people above 65 compared to other industrialized nations. The cost of services is much higher in the United States without actually providing better outcomes. Even after adjustment for health characteristics we dont really shine in cost, access, or quality.Dermatology, because they won't be crushed under the increasing numbers of patients who have increasingly severe chronic disease.
Vascular pathology is already really common, so vascular surgery will continue to be very busy. Endocrinology will probably get a decent bit busier given the relationship between obesity and T2DM. Bariatrics will definitely keep growing.
Although much hay has been made of the the diminished results the American healthcare system gets relative to expenditure (compared to Europe), obesity explains a lot of the difference. Our population isn't as healthy to start with, and there's not very much evidence that physicians move the needle substantially when it comes to altering unhealthy habits, c.f. the Cochrane review on motivational interviewing.
One of my greatest fears. Right after being suffocated to death by a morbidly obese person, which has nearly happened to me. Twice.
Bariatric surgery?I feel like psychiatry is benefitting immensely from positive cultural trends, such as the normalization of seeking help for mental illness. Another (negative) trend in healthcare is rising obesity rates. What field is best positioned to benefit from this? Or is it just going to cause strain and headache for the entire health system with no single speciality raking in the dough from an ever increasing obese patient population? Maybe interventional cards? Vascular surgery? While compensation is not, and should not, be the primary driver for speciality selection, I also think it's wise to survey the future for opportunity, because after all, I'm not trying to land in peds ID or nuclear medicine.
How do you figure?
Wouldn't you still need hospitalists for inpatient admissions related to procedures?One word: placement. There just aren't that many SNFs with resources for multiperson assist. The SNF gets paid the same regardless of how heavy the patient occupying the bed is, so it hurts their bottom line to need to hire more staff to care for the same number of patients. Rising obesity rates will make for more dispo nightmares unless SNFs are incentivized to take these morbidly obese patients.
Wouldn't you still need hospitalists for inpatient admissions related to procedures?
Wouldn't you still need hospitalists for inpatient admissions related to procedures?
I think "benefit" is being interpreted in different ways here.I don't see how that helps. Not being able to dispo patients means insurance denials and more time navigating poorly designed phone menus.
Unless I am completely off base the point of the post was what specialties will see increase in demand as a result of the obesity epidemic. Even if there are more headaches for hospitalists there would still be more demand for them at the end of the day leading to the benefits of better pay, easier to find a job etc, etc. Obesity is not going to make any person's job easier.I don't see how that helps. Not being able to dispo patients means insurance denials and more time navigating poorly designed phone menus.
Unless I am completely off base the point of the post was what specialties will see increase in demand as a result of the obesity epidemic. Even if there are more headaches for hospitalists there would still be more demand for them at the end of the day leading to the benefits of better pay, easier to find a job etc, etc. Obesity is not going to make any person's job easier.
One of my greatest fears. Right after being suffocated to death by a morbidly obese person, which has nearly happened to me. Twice.
Pah! Nope, nothing quite that interesting.Sounds like a fetish? Go on...
pathology
Bariatrics is actually down where I am. 15 years ago, we were doing 10 cases/day. Nowadays it’s more like 10-15cases/week. Seems like everyone who wants one already got theirs.
basically everything but peds. and maybe psych (non-sleep subset)
Obesity makes everything worse for me. The surgeries are longer and more challenging, and not in good ways. You add a few hours to every procedure because you are digging through inches of fat, other surgeries don’t get done. Outcomes are worse because of increased infection rates, sometimes barring surgery altogether. Infections for acetabular fractures with a morbidly obese patient are as high as 50%—I won’t operate on them because of that. And even in other Ortho subspecialties it’s bad—there are BMI cutoffs for joint replacement beyond which you can’t do it.
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Unless you're talking like >400lbs people, denials are not happening at most medical centers. Or maybe you meant shouldn't do it? The vast majority of large (in the fat category) folks 200-400lbs are still readily able to get their joints swapped. And they are doing it at an increased rate. Ortho is getting a piece of the pie.As i mentioned earlier, A high BMI is actually an automatic denial for joint replacement - you literally can’t do it above a certain BMI as it is not safe and doesn’t have good outcomes.
Lol... Um... except you’re a premed, and I’m an actual orthopaedic surgeon, and I’m not wrong. Below BMI 40 is standard for most ortho practices; beyond that, they refer a patient to bariatrics before doing a joint replacement.
No reasonable orthopaedic surgeon actually wants to do a joint on a big person because there is a well documented increased complication rate.
So please refrain from giving people incorrect information.
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Didnt you hear them? Tldr ur wrong
I’m a pcp. I’ve had multiple patients told they can’t have a joint replacement at Elevated BMIs. Usually over 250 is where I see them denied the most.Unless you're talking like >400lbs people, denials are not happening at most medical centers. Or maybe you meant shouldn't do it? The vast majority of large (in the fat category) folks 200-400lbs are still readily able to get their joints swapped. And they are doing it at an increased rate. Ortho is getting a piece of the pie.
TLDR: You're wrong...
To be fair, there's a lot of orthopods out there with a lot of different standards.Lol... Um... except you’re a premed, and I’m an actual orthopaedic surgeon, and I’m not wrong. Below BMI 40 is standard for most ortho practices; beyond that, they refer a patient to bariatrics before doing a joint replacement.
No reasonable orthopaedic surgeon actually wants to do a joint on a big person because there is a well documented increased complication rate.
So please refrain from giving people incorrect information.
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To be fair, there's a lot of orthopods out there with a lot of different standards.
I've had patients who have BMIs well over 40 with uncontrolled DM who come tell me about their new knee and I scratch my head how they got that done.
awww snap! An ortho attending talkin about fatties on SDN
But for real dude read what you wrote, you're own statements are contradictory:
As Raryn alluded to, "shouldn't" and "can't" are not interchangeable. I just had to shadow one ortho surgeon to know if there's incentive surgeons will replace w/e joint you want. Weight loss or not. Sometimes they referred out or asked the patient to lose weight, but in the end that didn't work and the surgeon operated. As you stated replacement usually failed and the chubby ones were back for a repeat or different joint in a few years.
So please, please, please don't misinform our SDN community just because you are an attending. You are an attending after all...
Premed who knows just enough to see that you made a blatantly incorrect statement.
No one asked you to piss with anyone. And I'm not a he.
Wow... Unbelievable... My gender pronoun of choice is completely separate from my biological sex. Please don't oppress me with your language. I have every right to embrace my y chromosome and still be addressed as "they/them/their", ask any adcom. Please see the below example.