The perioperative period is the time period of a patient's
surgical procedure.
It commonly includes ward admission,
anesthesia, surgery, and recovery. Perioperative may refer to the three phases of surgery: preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative, though it is a term most often used for the first and third of these only - a term which is often specifically utilized to imply 'around' the time of the surgery. The primary concern of perioperative care is to provide better conditions for patients before operation (sometimes construed as during operation) and after operation.
Perioperative care
Perioperative care is the care that is given before and after surgery. It takes place in hospitals, in surgical centers attached to hospitals, in freestanding surgical centers, or health care providers' offices. This period is used to prepare the patient both physically and psychologically for the surgical procedure and after surgery. For emergency surgeries this period can be short and the patient may be oblivious to this; for elective surgeries 'preops', as they are called, can be quite lengthy. Information obtained during preoperative assessment is used to create a care plan for the patient.
Findings from a systematic review of perioperative
advance care planning
Advance care planning is a process that enables individuals to make plans about their future health care. Advance care plans provide direction to healthcare professionals when a person is not in a position to make and/or communicate their own he ...
suggest the importance and value that various types of decision aids have for patients to clarify their goals and specify others who can make decisions for them in case of unexpected surgical difficulties.
Phases
Preoperative
The preoperative phase is used to perform
tests
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
, attempt to limit
preoperational anxiety Preoperational anxiety, or preoperative anxiety, is a common reaction experienced by patients who are admitted to a hospital for surgery. It can be described as an unpleasant state of tension or uneasiness that results from a patient's doubts or fe ...
and may include the
preoperative fasting
Preoperative fasting is the practice of a surgical patient abstaining from eating or drinking (" nothing by mouth") for some time before having an operation. This is intended to prevent stomach contents from getting into the windpipe and lungs (kno ...
.
Intraoperative
The intraoperative period begins when the patient is transferred to the
operating room table and ends with the transfer of a patient to the
Post Anesthesia Care Unit
A post-anesthesia care unit, often abbreviated PACU and sometimes referred to as post-anesthesia recovery or PAR, or simply Recovery, is a vital part of hospitals, ambulatory care centers, and other medical facilities. Patients who received gener ...
(PACU). During this period the patient is monitored, anesthetized, prepped, and draped, and the operation is performed. Nursing activities during this period focus on safety, infection prevention, opening additional sterile supplies to the field if needed and documenting applicable segments of the intraoperative report in the patients
Electronic Health Record. Intraoperative
radiation therapy
Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radi ...
and
Intraoperative blood salvage
Intraoperative blood salvage (IOS), also known as cell salvage, is a specific type of autologous blood transfusion. Specifically IOS is a medical procedure involving recovering blood lost during surgery and re-infusing it into the patient. It is ...
may also be performed during this time.
Postoperative
The postoperative period begins after the transfer to the
Post Anesthesia Care Unit
A post-anesthesia care unit, often abbreviated PACU and sometimes referred to as post-anesthesia recovery or PAR, or simply Recovery, is a vital part of hospitals, ambulatory care centers, and other medical facilities. Patients who received gener ...
(PACU) and terminates with the resolution of the surgical sequelae. It is quite common for the last of this period to end outside of the care of the surgical team. It is uncommon to provide extended care past the discharge of the patient from the PACU.
See also
*
Pre-anesthesia checkup Preanesthetic assessment (also called Preanesthesia evaluation, Pre-anesthesia checkup (PAC) or simply Preanesthesia) is a medical check-up and laboratory investigations done by an anesthesia provider or a registered nurse before an operation, to as ...
References
{{reflist
External links
AORN - Association of periOperative Registered NursesAfPP - Association for Perioperative PracticeEvidence Based Perioperative Medicine
Surgery