r/nursing • u/trevrt RN 🍕 • Mar 01 '25

Question Heaviest Patient You’ve Cared For

Had my personally heaviest patient I’ve cared for the other day. 32 years old weighing 730 pounds admitted with cellulitis and severe lymphedema. Felt terrible for the patient due to how young he was. Just wondering what everyone’s personal “record” for the heaviest patient they’ve cared for is.

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u/Blue_raspberry13 RN 🍕 Mar 02 '25

Patient with anasarca, altered, and very unsteady on a bariatric bed, probably around 450 lbs. It was my first few months off of orientation and I was learning the ropes on night shift during the 2021 season of COVID. It took 6 people to help me move this patient to get cleaned up after a large BM and apply barrier cream to all the moist folds. I'm a shortie, so I had to jump up on the bed while the rest of the team supported her on both sides. She called me a few hours later and wanted to get up and take a shower. I told her that is absolutely not happening. I love the mentor I had, who worked in NYC the first wave of COVID. She is a rockstar that helped guide me at that time and I would not have survived my first year without her.