What does it mean to “clear” a patient for surgery? Every patient needs to have a visit with a healthcare provider before their surgery in order to assess their health and verify that it is relatively safe to proceed with surgery. When they end up on your schedule, it’s up to you whether or not they will get the go ahead (no pressure). If you are wondering how, as someone who has not been trained to perform surgeries, you are supposed to understand a patient’s ability to tolerate a surgery or procedure, this video should help.

Patients and surgeries each have varying levels of risk (low, medium, high), and the preop visit is the place to get an understanding of how the pairing of the patient and the surgery is most likely to pan out. Many times, your judgment will be adequate and you can determine whether or not the patient should proceed with surgery; other times, more information will be needed, and it may be wise to send them to a specialist for the final word.

In this week’s video, we will talk about the particulars of the preop patient and the preop exam.

• The elements of a preop exam in primary care
• Relative risk levels of surgeries, and how to understand them for the purpose of a preop exam
• How to factor in the comorbidities when considering the patient’s safety for surgery
• The role of preop testing and imaging
• How to get feedback from a collaborating physician for tricky cases

Not all preop examinations are created equal, and so much of it depends on the surgery the patient is planning. Try not to get overwhelmed by the prospect; improving your understanding of the patient and assessing them for surgery, and when you should send them somewhere else, gets better with time and practice.

Read the full blog post here.

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