Be Visible, Utilize Your OH Profile

For 17 years, prospective patients have visited ObesityHelp for peer-to-peer forums, inspirational before and after photos, surgeon reviews and real success stories! By establishing your presence on ObesityHelp, your practice will be a valuable resource during this crucial research phase of the journey. Bariatric surgery candidates need to know what they can expect when they choose you as part of their bariatric care team. Prospective WLS pre-ops genuinely wanting to make good decisions about their lives and bodies will search out and prioritize information from reputable sources.

You can utilize ObesityHelp for Professionals to add all of the information patients need right onto your professional profile. You can add comprehensive background information, website and social links, updates about your practice, support group and seminar information and a visual testimonial through inspiring Before & After photos. In addition, word-of-mouth reviews are potentially the most valuable resource for obtaining new patients. Your patients can leave their personal reviews right on your profile. People connect with stories, spoken or written, that convey a truly personal experience. For those who are morbidly obese, reading about success stories from their peers can be empowering and provides hope that they can one day achieve the same level of success.

They are turning to their peers, trusted websites and professionals to:

• Seek education and support about treatments and what to expect with surgery.
• Consult online reviews, stories, and posts about outcomes and experiences.
• Read informational articles for tips to help with obstacles and/or long term success.

Your patients want to be able to connect with you. They want to read your tips, office updates and read the articles that you’re sharing. We’re here to help you make sure you can connect with your patients on and off ObesityHelp.com.

If you have social media accounts set-up that you would like your patients to follow, you can highlight them on your ObesityHelp Sponsored profile so that your patients can easily connect with you.

To add your Social Media Accounts:

1. Sign in to your ObesityHelp Professional account.
2. Under the General tab of your account, enter in the full URL to your preferred social media accounts.
   
3. Click the “Save” button.
4. Your social icons will appear at the top of your profile, inline with the “Write Review” button.

As part of our commitment to serve you and the weight loss surgery community, we have just completed some major updates to ObesityHelp for Professionals (OH Pro).

Starting today, you’ll be able to enjoy a more intuitive, faster, and attractive OH Pro at no additional cost.

Same Great Tools Are Now Easier to Use
Our powerful set of tools–including stylish profiles, inquiries, reach tracking, events, and review tracking–are now easier to access and are more intuitive, helping you to get the most out of your OH Pro experience.

Better Patient Information
You can now see information on all of your patients who are registered with ObesityHelp by accessing the “Patients” area on the left panel. We will also be expanding this section in the future to offer you even better connectivity with your patients.

More Powerful Tools Coming Soon
With our new framework in place, we’ll be adding new functionality into the future.  We invite you to explore all of what is already available to you in the new OH Pro and would greatly appreciate any feedback you may have. We value your partnership with us in serving the weight loss surgery community and look forward to our continued relationship.

Please email your account manager with any questions or to schedule a tour. You can also call us any time at 1-866-957-4636.

One of the most important aspects of marketing yourself is understanding who you are trying to reach with your message. If you have specific information on your target demographic–age, gender, income, race, home ownership, education, employment status and type–then use that to develop a “typical patient profile.” If you do not know who your target demographic is, your staff can compile this information by reviewing the patient charts of your last 100 to 200 bariatric procedures.

Chances are, the individuals in your target demographic will have particular likes and dislikes, behavioral patterns and values in common that you can refer to when making decisions about how to present your practice. For example, the images and language you would use to sell your message to 20- to 30-year-old professionals will be very different than those you would use to reach 30- to 40-year-old stay-at-home moms. Each demographic has its own characteristics, and getting to really know your target demographic is one of the most important things you can do to promote yourself effectively.

2. Create a Patient-Friendly Website

Once you know who your patients are, put yourself in their shoes. When looking online for a surgeon, what will entice them to contact you? Your credentials, experience with
bariatric procedures and specialties are all important and should be easily accessible in your promotional materials, but these facts should not be the only thing the patients see. Just as you must get to know your demographic, you must help them get to know you as more than just a skilled surgeon. Energy spent creating additional patient resources is well spent, as long as the content is informative, yet not too technical. Your website is for patients, not other clinicians. Use the same language you would use to describe procedures if the patient were sitting with you in your office.

Once your website is developed, ask yourself these questions as if you were the patient:

• Am I motivated to take the leap into bariatric surgery?
• Does this doctor seem knowledgeable and experienced?
• Does this doctor make me feel comfortable?
• Is this doctor someone I can be honest with?
• Do I have a good understanding of surgical alternatives?
• Does the doctor have a supportive staff that can help me with my insurance and other issues?
• Are there testimonials from other patients who have good experiences with this doctor?

Once you feel you have solid website content developed, survey your target demographic. Contact a few previous patients and ask them to check out your website and let you know of any comments they may have. These are the perfect people to offer honest suggestions that can help you create a sensitive, patient-focused website. Use their opinions to make the proper adjustments to convey a safe, optimistic and accurate message to your patients.

3. Maximize your Ability to Empathize

Most bariatric patients have been plagued by unresolved weight issues for most of their lives. They may be very unhappy with the trials they have faced as a result of these issues, and many have felt disconnected from people and may have difficulty trusting others. Your challenge, as their doctor, is to gain their trust. You can do this by empathizing with their situation. Let them know that you understand how hard it must be to overweight and commend them for making the choice to change. Building empathy into your patient conversations is one of the most productive ways to build patient rapport. Think of every interaction with a patient as a personal testimonial for you and an opportunity to gain a personal advocate. Many highly-qualified surgeons who find themselves with relatively few cases tend to be focused on themselves rather than on their patients. These are the physicians who treat their patients like they should feel privileged to be getting surgery from such a great doctor. While they may indeed be fantastic clinicians, this type of mentality does not lend itself to good first impressions.

The most successful bariatric professionals are those who take the time to get to know their patients and remain involved in their lives throughout their weight loss journeys. Most bariatric patients on ObesityHelp.com are either very happy or very unhappy with their surgeons–there is seldom a middle ground. Ninety percent of the time, patient satisfaction comes down to how they were treated as a pre-operative patient. Take the time to evaluate how you are dealing with each patient and adjust accordingly. Remember, the successful bariatric practices get the majority of their leads through the glowing testimonials of previous patients.

4. Develop Friendly, Supportive Office Staff

Your office staff members are your front line for patient care. They have the ability to set the tone and adjust the office atmosphere. It’s a good policy to make sure your staff treats your patients as well as you do, even when it comes to difficult tasks like insurance issues and enforcing proper aftercare.

Let your office staff be responsible for encouraging happy patients to write testimonials about their experience on your website or on ObesityHelp.com. We know that positive testimonials are a great way to increase referrals. We have also seen patients on ObesityHelp.com say that they have been turned off from a particular bariatric program because they felt that the staff members lacked compassion or were unfriendly. Happy patients tell their friends and family about the life-changing experience they had with you and your office, so encourage your staff to help make every visit an excellent visit.

5. Fish Where the Fish Are Biting

Potential bariatric patients lead particular lifestyles, and you should adjust your marketing plans accordingly. Think about or learn what your patients do in their spare time and their preferred methods of gleaning information, and then choose the most effective places to reach them.

With the advent of the Internet and online shopping, many morbidly obese people have found it more convenient and comfortable to do most of their shopping and socializing from their own homes. Knowing that, explore ways to talk to potential patients through online platforms. Formal advertising is an important component of your marketing plan, but there are also other opportunities that you may not be utilizing. For example, on ObesityHelp.com, you will notice that there are many people asking surgery-related questions on the message boards. Take some time  and answer a few questions. You will be surprised how answering a few questions can really get your name out there! Many members who are “shopping” for a surgeon will make their first contact with a surgeon on the message boards. It’s free, it can be done at your convenience, and it is a good opportunity to make a great first impression.

6. Blaze New Trails

Do you have a random or wacky idea for your practice, website or marketing literature? Is it something you’ve noticed is missing from your current offerings, and hasn’t been done before? Just because your colleagues have not done something doesn’t mean it isn’t a good idea. Unconventional ideas can be some of the best ideas because they are unique and can set your practice apart from others.

Find ways to participate in community events that will help your name and face to become familiar to people in your area. Organize short seminars in your office and serve specialty food products that you may recommend be incorporated in their post-operative diet. Invite a special speaker–a past patient, a local chef, a nutritionist or a yoga teacher–to present at support group meetings. Host social events that foster relationships between your staff and your patients. Remember, happy patients are your best marketing vehicle!

7. Reach Out Through Video

Patients are consumers. Consumers, on the whole, tend to be buying more goods and service online, and it is relatively simple now to provide online information in a wide array of formats. One easy way to introduce yourself to potential patients is through video on your website. Video is more personal than text and allows potential patients to see and hear you without making an appointment or leaving home, which makes them feel comfortable learning more about your practice, and you–a professional they will come to trust. Aim to have some sort of introductory video on your website and on your ObesityHelp profile, and update it periodically to keep it fresh and accurate.

As with the other marketing tools, review and get feedback on the video from a typical patient perspective: would prospective patient “Mary Smith” want to make an appointment with me after watching my video? Have I given her enough information that would make her choose me as her surgeon? What other visual elements will appeal to 25- to 45-year-old women who are struggling with their weight? Ideally, your video should be warm and inviting without over-promising or sugar-coating the truth. Consumers today are cautious, and bariatric patients in general have trust issues. Be up-front, genuine and realistic while maintaining a friendly demeanor to attract consumers.

8. Connect With Local PCPs

Most primary care physicians (PCPs) encounter a fair amount of obese patients, and are usually the first point of reference when patients begin investigating bariatric surgery. Unfortunately, many PCPs shy away from bariatric surgery as treatment from morbid obesity. As an industry, we need to begin communicating with PCPs and viewing them as allies in the treatment of obesity. Teaching PCPs about the benefits of bariatric surgery can be a tough task. Fortunately, ObesityHelp works with PCPs from all over the country to educate them on the benefits of bariatric surgery, so you will not be alone in your efforts. You can do your part by reaching out to the PCPs in your local area and explaining the merits of a surgical approach, especially as research reveals new benefits. Most PCPs are not as well-versed in the reduction of obesity comorbidities after bariatric surgery as you are. You can bet that this sort of sharing of information can help you form an enriching partnership and a new referral stream.

QHow old were you during your WWII military service, and what was your rank?

I was about 26 years old, and a Navy medical officer and photographer on two ships: the LST-6 (landing ship tank) during the Normandy invasion and the AKA-103 (attack cargo ship) at Okinawa. I was initially an Ensign, on LST-52 on the Atlantic crossing from Boston to England, and later I was promoted to Lieutenant [Junior Grade], and then full Lieutenant. I made five trips across the English Channel from Portsmouth to the Normandy coast of France.

QWhat was your set-up for emergency triage on the tank deck off of Normandy?

On the LST-6, our tank deck was converted into an emergency and hospital room after all the heavy military equipment (tanks, trucks, etc.) had been discharged to the beach. The stretchers holding the wounded served as hospital beds. There were three doctors on our ship including myself. We had adequate quantities of IV solutions, ten or twelve bottles of type-O blood, ample vials of morphine sulfate for pain, and sulfa drugs for infection. The surgical equipment was quite good—we kept what was needed for major surgery on one of the mess hall tables. In addition to the tank deck set-up, we had first-aid stations scattered about the ship, where emergency equipment such as bandages, antiseptic and so forth could be used by the personnel top-side in case our ship was hit.

QDid you perform surgery as the medical officer on the ship?

During the Normandy invasion there were three doctors, one a qualified surgeon from Kentucky. We did one abdominal exploration for a shrapnel perforation and completed an arm amputation on a severely torn upper arm. We used the mess hall dining table for the surgery.

QWhat was the environment that led to your development of weight loss surgery?

I had always been interested in research, and during the last year of my residency in 1953 I devoted my time and effort, along with Drs. Arnold Kremen and Charles Nelson, to a small bowel absorption study in dogs to evaluate the absorption characteristics of various segments of the small intestine. After completing my service and going into private practice, one of my patients, R.D., of Savage, Minnesota, who weighed between 275 and 385 pounds at various times, complained that she could not maintain her weight loss and, no matter what she did, she would always regain the weight she had lost. I told her about our experiment in dogs and that although the malabsorption did result in weight loss, it had never been performed on humans. She told me that she wanted the surgery no matter what. In those days, we did not have the [Institutional Review Board] regulations nor the litigation that we have today, so after consultation with Dr. Kremen, we decided to perform the first surgery in April of 1954 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Minnesota.

QWhat was the initial reaction of the medical community to weight loss surgery?

The paper with our results and the R.D. case report, published in the Annals of Surgery, was received enthusiastically at the American Surgical Association meeting in Cleveland in 1954. Shortly thereafter, a number of surgical groups began to do variations of the JIB (jejunoileal bypass), but I decided not to perform any more procedures until I had a chance to see the results of our case and the operations that were being done by others.

As far as the general medical community goes, however, there was a lot of resistance to weight loss surgery, especially amongst internists, as well as some surgeons. They thought it was crazy to treat obesity with surgery. In an interview with Dr. Ancel Keys, an internationally known nutritionist, he said with a slight smile, “what you should do is to sew the patient’s mouth shut!” That shook me a bit, but did not deter me and I decided to perform the surgery anyway.

QWhat type of weight loss surgery did you perform?

I performed JIBs at first, but because of the problems associated with that procedure, I switched to the Gomez horizontal gastroplasty, then Mason’s vertical banded gastroplasty, and finally the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (GBP). I did a few gastric banding procedures but found the weight losses were not as significant as with the gastric bypass. I used the open method exclusively, but today our group does it primarily laparoscopically, tailoring the choice of operation to each patient. There are certainly going to be other technologies down the road, but the most important thing is that these procedures pass the test of time and prove to be as safe as possible.

QWhat were the disadvantages of gastroplasty?

It was not as effective as gastric bypass, and, in trying to improve the results, the stoma was often made too small, resulting in stomal obstruction. The adjustable band improved that situation considerably, but, in our experience, was not as effective as the GBP. We later found that the GBP was a more effective way of treating Type 2 diabetes as well.

QWhat role did aftercare play in your early experience with weight loss surgery?

Lifetime follow-up is vital to achieving good results and evaluating long-term success. This often requires telephone contact or mail response.

QWas a psychiatric evaluation necessary for having weight loss surgery in the early years?

We did not believe that formal psychiatricevaluation was necessary in every case. If we felt, based on a good history and physical examination, that a particular patient needed to have a psychological evaluation, we recommended it, but certainly not for every patient.

QWhat advice would you give to surgeons new to this field?

Get the best training in current techniques at Centers of Excellence, attend national meetings, and keep abreast of all the new changes in this dynamic field.

QWhy do you think weight loss surgery has gained such prevalence?

Obesity has grown to epidemic proportions in our country, and at this time there is no effective medical treatment for the morbidly obese. We need more effective preventive measures on a national level.

QWhat do you see as the next frontier of bariatric surgery?

There will be growth of robotic-type approaches and transluminal endoscopic procedures.

QTell us about the book you have written on weight loss surgery, and about your inspiration for your most recent book.

I wrote my first book, Surgery for Morbid Obesity, which was published by Springer-Verlag in 1984. It was a standard textbook for a number of years. When the newer approaches appeared, there were some discussions about a second edition, but, unfortunately, I was too busy to get into it.

My most recent book, Normandy to Okinawa, is a combination of my diaries as a Navy medical officer aboard LST-6 during the Normandy invasion and the AKA-103 at Okinawa and an abridged history of WWII. I had kept a daily diary and I was also a photographer on the ship. When I came back from duty and began my practice, I put the diaries and the photographs in the closet where they resided for fifty years. I have five daughters, and a few years ago my wife and my daughters encouraged me to start working on my diaries and ultimately publish them. It took me ten years to put everything together, but it was finally accomplished.

This interview with Dr. Linner appeared in ObesityHelp’s magazine Bariatrics Today, Issue 1 2008. Dr. Linner  was a pioneer in bariatric surgery, his groundbreaking research led to the world’s first published account of a weight-loss operation. For 40 years, he dedicated his life to the study and treatment of obesity. He served as the former ASMBS president, published several articles and a book on bariatric surgery, served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and won awards from the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Dr. Linner passed away November 8, 2013 at age 95, Family members say Linner was most proud of being remembered as a doctor who was dedicated to his patients and who kept up with them long after they left the hospital. “Patients showered him with thank-you notes”, his wife said.

Dr. John H. LinnerFormer President of the ASMBS