Abstract
The prevalence of obesity has nearly doubled in the last 3 decades. Nurses practicing in all care settings are looking for creative strategies to achieve safe, effective care for this patient population. Understanding skin injury events and the resulting complications is essential in the development of protocols for care, educational approaches, and interventions providing the best outcomes of care. Areas of concern for the WOC nurse with regard to bariatric patients include bathing, toileting, skin fold management, odor and genital care.