Northwest Medical Center in Springdale receives accreditation
by October 19, 2018 12:19 pm 267 views
Northwest Medical Center – Springdale, a hospital of Springdale-based health system Northwest Health, has earned accreditation from the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program as a comprehensive center with adolescent qualifications, according to a news release.
The hospital worked in conjunction with Roller Weight Loss and Advanced Surgery for the achievement. Its bariatric surgical program was previously accredited as a comprehensive center through the accreditation program, which is a joint program of the American College of Surgeons and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.
This achievement assures patients considering surgical treatment for severe obesity and related conditions can receive treatment at a nationally accredited program. The standards set by the accreditation program ensure that bariatric surgical patients receive a multidisciplinary program, not just a surgical procedure, and this improves patient outcomes and long-term success, the release shows. Accredited centers offer preoperative and postoperative care for severely obese patients. The comprehensive adolescent program was developed for teenagers through young adulthood.
“The impact of childhood obesity cannot be overestimated as it has both immediate and long-term effects,” said Dr. Joshua Roller, bariatric surgeon and medical director for bariatric surgery at Northwest Health. “In fact, it has been suggested that the increase in childhood obesity between the 1960s and the 2000s may have led to the increase in Type II diabetes diagnoses in both children and adolescents. More than 20 million people in the U.S. currently have diabetes. Obesity has been found to lead to 95% of Type II diabetes.”
About 15.5 million people in the United States are severely obese, and the number continues to rise, according to the National Institutes of Health. Obesity increases the risks of morbidity and mortality because of the diseases that are associated with it, including Type II diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
Northwest Health earned the achievement from the accreditation program by meeting criteria for staffing, training and facility infrastructure and protocols for care. The center also participates in a national data registry that has semiannual reports on quality of its processes and outcomes.