DescriptionThirty million patients undergo surgical procedures in the US each year, and the age and medical complexity of this patient population are increasing. Every year the body of peer-reviewed literature on perioperative care increases and new guidelines on clinical management are formulated. In addition, economic, regulatory, and legislative changes continually create new challenges for healthcare professionals. The curriculum for this course was specifically created to address the needs of clinicians who provide patient care before, during, and after surgery. As the established leader in perioperative medicine, this course aims to provide practitioners with the most up-to-date knowledge necessary to deliver effective, evidence-based care by affecting health care practices at the level of the individual and the larger health system.
Objectives After attending this activity, the participant will demonstrate the ability to:
- Describe current guidelines for preoperative cardiac and pulmonary risk assessment and list several ways to predict and prevent cardiac and pulmonary complications using preoperative testing, and intraoperative and postoperative interventions, including the use of transesophageal echocardiography.
- Describe the perioperative risks associated with diabetes, renal insufficiency, obesity, hepatic disease and advanced age and list management strategies to minimize complications in patients with these medical conditions.
- Describe bleeding and thrombotic risks in surgical patients and list several strategies to reduce complications through evidence-based use of blood conservation methods, transfusion, and management of anti-thrombotic drug therapies.
- Recognize how to prevent, diagnose, and treat common health-care associated infections that complicate surgical procedures.
- Recognize the impact of health care provider stress and the larger health care system (cultural, regulatory, and legislative environment) on the safety and quality of health care delivery in the perioperative period.
