Hello all. I am requesting any help or information that you may be able to give me. I live in England, I am a midwife and also have a band myself. I would love to learn how to do fills/defills and set up in business myself. I have no idea where to start. Banding is not as widely known about nor used here, as it is in the States, so there are very few places that do fills and nowhere (that I know of) that I can find out any information about learning. Any suggestions will be gratefully received. Thank you everyone.

I would start by talking to a doctor who does banding. I bet your insurance rates would be very high. Sorry I can't really offer much in the way of advice.

Hi Pammie!

I am a registered nurse in the states and therefore can not speak to the limits of nursing practice in England. (I am assuming that as a midwife you are also a nurse.) You may wish to contact your national professional nursing association and inquire as to whether this fits within the scope of nursing practice before moving forward. They may also be able to advise you on other nurses who may already perform this procedure. In the states, nurses may fill and unfill the port under the order of the physician.

Good Luck in your endeavor!

Tammygirl

I just thought of something else. Contact the companies that make the bands and get information from them.

Hi Tammy and Long2bfree. Thank you for taking the time to reply. I am not a nurse aswell, only a midwife. I doubt the professional bodies here would want to help though as bariatric surgery is rather frowned upon by the vast majority of people here. This country is always slow to catch up with these things! BUT contacting the manufacturers is great idea. They may be able to point me in the right direction at least! I think I will contact the European surgeons that fit the bands too. I know that most of the Brits go to Europe as its so much cheaper. They then have to have fills in Britain, and many of the surgeons then come over for a day or so a month and try to fit these appontments in. Maybe they need a little help, hmmm. Thanks people. Keep those suggestions coming. I truly appreciate them. xxx

hi pammie

i think you may have read my mind, i am a rn (child) mith a band and was wondering the same thing.

let me know how you get on

Lx

I believe Inamed has a program that teaches Nurses or qualified people how to do fills and you get a certification from them. I know that me fill person is a geriatric nurse and she commutes to my area to do fills on the weekends in a special office that has a fluroscope or whatever you call the machine. She is afiliated with fillcenters usa. I hope Wassabubblebutt responds she is very knowledgable on the topic. Contacting the manufacturer of the band is probably going to be your best bet. I think if it were me, I'd probably start with Inamed. As a midwife are you certified to give people IV's and to draw blood? I'd think that they would probably require you to at least be able to do those things and know you way around a needle. Good luck!

hiya mbanja. that is so very informative thank you. I hope wassabubble responds too! I will contact Inamed and find out if they do this in the UK also. Doctors seem to be rather reluctant to either teach or to give information. Yes I do give injections and iv's and suture, draw blood etc.

And to lisa, I think its a good idea for the likes of you and I to learn to give fills. We would have a great understanding of how a bandster feels and what they are experiencing and therefore I believe would be beneficial to the process. I will indeed keep you informed of any relevent progress.

Thank you to you both for your help, x

You are welcome! Sorry I didn't know much about midwives :tongue_smilie:. I didn't know they could do all of that!

You could also ask the people who do the fills in England how THEY became certified and what the qualifications are.

Inamed has a certification class in the US. In order to attend you have to be referred by a bariatric doctor that is certified by Inamed to place their band. The idea being that you will do fills under his name.

I keep meaning to go to the class myself, not because I want to do fills (I don't) but just for the education. They have them about twice yearly, I have been unable to attend the last two but maybe next time.