The perioperative period is the time period of a patient's surgical procedure. It commonly includes ward admission,

anesthesia Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), a ...

, 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 fea ...

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 (k ...

Intraoperative

The intraoperative period begins when the patient is transferred to the

operating room Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

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 ge ...

(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 An electronic health record (EHR) is the systematized collection of patient and population electronically stored health information in a digital format. These records can be shared across different health care settings. Records are shared throu ...

. 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. Rad ...

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

(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.

References

{{reflist

External links

AORN - Association of periOperative Registered Nurses

AfPP - Association for Perioperative Practice

Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine
Surgery