Lap Band Fill Training

Tropicana · March 23, 2009

Any healthcare professionals know about training seminars or CME ccourses for training in lap band fills?

I was thinking about calling Allergan directly...

WASaBubbleButt · March 24, 2009

Any healthcare professionals know about training seminars or CME ccourses for training in lap band fills?
I was thinking about calling Allergan directly...

You have to be referred by the bariatric surgeon you work for.

They quit training people unless they are working for a bariatric surgeon because too many people just wanted to learn to fill and unfill their own bands.

Tropicana · March 25, 2009

You have to be referred by the bariatric surgeon you work for.
They quit training people unless they are working for a bariatric surgeon because too many people just wanted to learn to fill and unfill their own bands.

I called FillCenters yesterday and they gave me an answer contrary to yours.

I see your point, though.

plain · March 25, 2009

I called FillCenters yesterday and they gave me an answer contrary to yours.
I see your point, though.

But FillCenters is hardly the expert in such a case, right? I mean, if they told you something like "Any nurse can be certified to do it if you take the course" but then they couldn't refer you to said course.....that's kind of a non-answer.

Jaffa · March 25, 2009

Honestly, it doesn't seem to complicated for any nurse. I think if they are willing to pay to be trained they should be trained.

I do agree that they probably want to restrict who can do it, just to keep the cost up.

Tropicana · March 25, 2009

I'm not a nurse. I'm a physician in training. They didn't give me that answer...they told me the steps they usually take to train physicians and nurses in doing fills.

I totally get why they would want to limit the number of people allowed to do this. But I know it's not nearly as complicated as some of the other procedures I've done.

I know there are a few nurses and physicians on this site and I could have sworn there was a thread similar to this one a few years back. I was just wondering if there were CME training courses on bariatric surgical aftercare.

WASaBubbleButt · March 25, 2009

I'm not a nurse. I'm a physician in training. They didn't give me that answer...they told me the steps they usually take to train physicians and nurses in doing fills.
I totally get why they would want to limit the number of people allowed to do this. But I know it's not nearly as complicated as some of the other procedures I've done.

I know there are a few nurses and physicians on this site and I could have sworn there was a thread similar to this one a few years back. I was just wondering if there were CME training courses on bariatric surgical aftercare.

I can see why FillCentersUSA might not want to get a bunch of people trained, it would be their competition. But Inamed and J&J have their own training classes.

I was invited to the Inamed certification class by Bart Bandy, the previous Sr. VP of Inamed. It was one of those "knowing someone in the right position" kinda things but I never followed through. I should have, not that I want to do fills I do not. There were political reasons why I would have liked going to the class.

The actual procedure of doing fills is a no brainer, sterile technique, etc. But fills aren't quite as easy as you might think. It's really more of an art than a skill. The procedure is easy, technique is harder. It's one of those skills that after you have done 1000 of them you learn the art.