VCU news

By Leha Byrd

Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU earned a distinction that identifies them as the state’s only accredited metabolic and bariatric surgery centers for adults and adolescents.

The American College of Surgeons Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program accredits inpatient and outpatient bariatric surgery centers that have undergone an independent, voluntary and rigorous peer evaluation in accordance with nationally recognized bariatric surgical standards. Accreditation for metabolic and bariatric surgery not only promotes uniform standard benchmarks, but also supports continuous quality improvement.

“This MBSAQIP accreditation for VCU Medical Center formally acknowledges our commitment to providing and supporting quality improvement and patient safety efforts for metabolic and bariatric surgery patients,” said Guilherme M. Campos, M.D., professor of surgery and chair, Division of Bariatric and Gastrointestinal Surgery. “As an accredited program we have demonstrated that our center meets the needs of our patients by providing multidisciplinary, high-quality and patient-centered care.”

The Division of Bariatric and Gastrointestinal Surgery includes a multidisciplinary team of nurses, nurse-practitioners, dietitians, endocrinologists, gastroenterologists, radiologists and other specialists as needed. CHoR’s comprehensive approach to adolescent bariatric surgery includes a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, physicians, nurses, dietitians, exercise specialists and psychologists. The program has seen significant results with improvements to medical conditions, psychological benefits and little to no complications.

“Weight-loss surgery has been shown to reliably produce significant, long-term weight loss in obese adolescent patients when used in conjunction with healthy lifestyle modification,” said David Lanning, M.D., surgeon-in-chief at CHoR. “Most of the medical problems related to obesity are completely reversible if addressed soon enough, whereas after a certain period of time the effects from some diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes, can become permanent. So waiting to have surgery until 18 years of age can often have significant negative consequences.

“Being the only accredited weight-loss surgical program for children in Virginia reaffirms that we have all of the critical components necessary to provide this surgical care to children in a safe and multidisciplinary manner.”