Introduction Recent literature has shown a wide variation in the prescribing patterns of opioids after elective surgery. We conducted an evaluation of discharge opioid prescribing after elective surgical procedures to determine whether opioid-prescribing patterns varied at our institution. Method A single academic medical center retrospective review of patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecy...

BACKGROUND When a patient cannot be intubated or ventilated, cricothyrotomy is indicated. Risks associated with emergent cricothyrotomy are significant, and this procedure typically requires revision. Additional options for establishing an emergent airway are limited. Thus, elective tracheotomy to ensure a safe airway after procedures involving the upper aerodigestive tract is common. Although ...

OBJECTIVE To demonstrate the recent trends of admission and surgical management for diverticulitis in the United States. DESIGN Retrospective database analysis. SETTING The National Inpatient Sample database. PATIENTS Patients admitted to the hospital for diverticulitis from 2002 to 2007. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Patient characteristics, surgical approach, and mortality were evaluated for ...

Patient education is a major concern for perioperative nurses in an ambulatory surgery setting. It has proven difficult to develop formal preoperative teaching programs in this environment, but research has shown that preoperative education can improve patient outcomes and satisfaction with the surgical experience. Typical patient education consists of pamphlets that are given to the patient be...

A recent study at the Prince of Wales Hospital (PoW) compared health outcomes and user satisfaction for conventional clinical pathways with a shortened pathway incorporating day of surgery admission (DOSA), early discharge and post acute care domiciliary visits for two high volume, elective surgical procedures (herniorrhaphy and laparoscopic cholecystectomy). This paper quantifies cost differen...

BACKGROUND The clinical spectrum of sigmoid diverticulitis (SD) varies from asymptomatic diverticulosis to symptomatic disease with potentially fatal complications. Sigmoid colectomy with restoration of continuity has been the prevailing modality for treating acute and recurrent SD, and is often performed as a laparoscopy-assisted procedure. For elective sigmoid colectomy, the postoperative mor...

Pre-operative assessment is required prior to the majority of elective surgical procedures, primarily to ensure that the patient is fit to undergo surgery, whilst identifying issues that may need to be dealt with by the surgical or anaesthetic teams. The post-operative management of elective surgical patients begins during the peri-operative period and involves several health professionals. App...

Lymphatic mapping and sentinel node biopsy has been rapidly and widely adopted by the surgical community as an oncologic equivalent elective lymphadenectomy for regional node staging in both melanoma and breast cancer. Despite being the de facto standard of care, it remains a highly unstandardized procedure surrounded by many unresolved controversies for surgeons who perform the procedure. The ...

INTRODUCTION Preoperative evaluation of a patient is the fundamental component of anaesthetic practice. Inadequate documentation and record keeping on the preoperative evaluation form (PEF) can be a major obstacle to attaining good practice and improving patient outcomes following operative procedures. AIM The aim of the study was to conduct an audit to assess the quality of the preoperative ...