It is important to audit surgical outcomes if we are going to provide high quality health care. Professor Paul Myles discusses a novel outcome measure, days at home 30 days after surgery, and why a recent paper utilising this measure may be one of the most important he has written to date.

Pregabalin is an analgesic agent which has attracted some adverse publicity recently. Prof David Scott discusses the appropriate use of this non-opioid analgesic agent.

Dr Mark Shulman is a member of the METS study investigation team whose work was published in the Lancet in 2018. Additionally he is the primary author of a recently published substudy addressing pre operative functional and biomarker assessment as it pertains to patient centred outcomes. In this podcast Mark outlines the findings of both studies to help the modern day perioperative physician negotiate the management of patients with a significant cardiac risk factor burden in this challenging phase of care.

In 2016, the WHO made a strong recommendation that certain patients should have 80% oxygen administered in the immediate postoperative period for 2-6 hours to decrease the risk of surgical site infection. Prof Paul Myles discusses the reasons this recommendation disturbed him and his subsequent actions.

Air Vice-Marshal Tracy Smart is the Commander of Joint Health Command and the Surgeon General of the Australian Defence Force. She is the highest ranking uniformed medical officer in the Australian Defence Force and only the third woman to reach 2-Star-rank in the history of the Royal Australian Air Force. She recently delivered the Kester Brown Address at the Australian Society of Anaesthetist's National Scientific Congress in Adelaide. In this episode, AVM Smart speaks with Dr Simon Hendel about leading cultural change. Dr Simon Hendel is an anaesthetist and trauma consultant at the Alfred and a lecturer in the Department of Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at Monash University. Note: The number of women in Defence is currently 17.9%, not 20% as quoted.

Burns can be a confronting and challenging clinical problem which present significant issues for the perioperative practitioner. In this episode, Dr Simon Hendel speaks with Dr Heather Cleland, consultant plastic surgeon and director of the Victorian Adult Burns Service at The Alfred Hospital, to gain insights into the diagnosis, management and prognosis of acute severe burns.

Interview with Dr Kym Jenkins, president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. Discussion about the mental health of the medical professional. Recent medial coverage, what we know, common themes of unhappy doctors and future directions.

Massive transfusions are not confined to major teaching hospitals or to trauma centres – they can occur in many other settings. In this podcast, Dr Simon Hendel discusses the use of massive transfusions and massive transfusion protocols. In particular, he explores the issue of pre-hospital resuscitation and how a massive transfusion protocol may be helpful even in a remote country hospital with limited resources.

Pulmonary aspiration of gastric contents is a rare but serious complication of anaesthesia. Fasting prior to surgery to minimise the risk of aspiration has been an accepted necessity of preoperative care for decades. In this podcast, Dr Jonathan Nicholson discusses some of the evidence surrounding modern fasting practices. He will explore some of the newer approaches to preoperative fasting that have been prompted by a focus on Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols and how to ensure patients who are fasting aren't necessarily starving.

Dr Jonathan Nicholson interviews principal investigator Professor Paul Myles on the results of the RELIEF trial - a large randomised controlled trial looking at liberal vs. restrictive fluid therapy during and after major abdominal surgery.