Pre-Operative Assessment
The Pre-Operative Assessment Clinic aims to have patients as fit as possible for surgery by having their complete workup done as an outpatient.
Traditionally, patients were admitted to hospital a few days prior to surgery for their workup and pending the results, other clinicians/disciplines input was often required. This often led to delay or cancellation of their operation.
Before we introduced the service, approximately 17-20% of surgeries would have been cancelled on medical grounds. Once the Clinic was established, these were able to go ahead as Day of Surgery Admissions after we carried out the appropriate assessment and optimisation.
Our services
The overall aim of the Pre-Operative Assessment Clinic is to:
- Enhance the efficacy and clinical excellence of patient care
- Reduce and prevent cancellations by having the patients assessed by the anaesthetist prior to admission – providing an opportunity to identify other health issues and facilitate prompt treatment of any other medical problems
- Reduce bed occupancy and length of hospital stay, thus reducing costs
- Reduce the number of patients who fail to attend for surgery
- Increase the efficient use of operating theatre time
- Facilitate informed consent
- Improve safety by assessing and quantifying risk and allaying fear and anxiety
- Improve patient education
Consultants
Clinic information
Referral information
Patients who are deemed to require surgery by their surgeon will be referred to the Pre-Operative Assessment Clinic for assessment.
Useful links
- HSE My Medicines List – Helpful tool for summarising medications
- Resources: help to promote the Know Check Ask campaign – Corporate (hse.ie) – Translations For HSE My Medicine List – located in My Medicines List drop-down menu
- You and your anaesthetic PDF (rcoa.ac.uk) – Booklet containing information about anaesthesia
- Translations | The Royal College of Anaesthetists (rcoa.ac.uk) – Translations of booklet
- Preparing for surgery: Fitter Better Sooner PDF (rcoa.ac.uk) – Advice for improving your health before surgery
How was I referred to the Pre-Op Assessment Clinic?
Patients are referred to pre-op assessment by their surgical team.
Why was I referred to the Pre-Op Assessment Clinic?
Patients are referred to pre-op assessment to be reviewed by Pre-op Assessment nurses and anaesthetists before surgery, to assess their current health and suitability for undergoing anaesthesia, and to assess whether there are ways of optimising their health before surgery to make them as prepared as possible for surgery.
Additionally, it provides an opportunity for the anaesthetists to discuss the process of undergoing anaesthesia with the patients and answer any queries. The aim is to improve our patient’s experience and outcomes and to reduce surgical cancellations.
What happens in the clinic?
Patients are assessed by both a Pre-Op Assessment nurse and an anaesthetist.
This will involve:
- Questions about your past medical and surgical history
- Medical exam
- Height and weight measurement;
- Blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature measurement.
- Blood tests
- ECG
You do not have to fast for the blood tests taken in the Pre-Op Assessment clinic.
Do I need to do anything?
Please bring a list of your current medications with you. You will be asked about many aspects of your health and your past medical history, so it may be helpful to write down any previous or ongoing medical issues and any previous surgeries.
Medication advice
You may be given instructions about changes to your medications around the time of your operation. These will be discussed with you in the clinic and you will also be given written instructions about any changes.
Further tests and referrals
After being seen in the clinic the anaesthetist might book you for further tests such as Pulmonary Function Tests which test your breathing, or Echocardiogram which is an ultrasound scan of your heart. Additionally, you may be referred to other specialists if any issues arise that require further expert advice. The reason for this is to make sure that there are no problems with your health that need to be addressed before surgery.
Contact
tel: (01) 221 3675/4570/5659
Location
1st Floor
Clinical Services Building
Corridor near St. Mark’s Ward
St. Vincent’s University Hospital
Elm Park
Dublin 4
Opening Hours
Mon to Fri: 08:00 – 17:00