Adherence to local preoperative, generic investigation guidelines for adult elective upper gastrointestinal surgery

Abstract

Pre-operative assessment is essential in preparing patients for elective procedures as it risk-stratifies patients and optimises their conditions, reducing the rate of complications. Anaesthetists are key in this process as they are consulted about high-risk patients. They also release the guidelines for pre-operative assessments which are used in the POAC. Despite these guidelines being in place, there are still staff members who either do not use the guidelines or are unaware of their existence. This has cost implications and possibly leads to substandard assessments.