Empowerment and self-management after weight loss surgery.

The bariatric surgery health-care professional team are often frustrated and discouraged when patients are unwilling or unable to follow their advice to achieve ideal outcomes after obesity surgery. The acute care model that suffices for other types of surgery is inadequate after a surgery that requires chronic life-long behavioral changes. Practical interventions that facilitate collaborative relationships and foster patient-centered practices are the key to giving up feeling responsible for the choices that patients make, by being responsible to them, and achieving better outcomes.