Perioperative Medicine in Action

Overview

Too many patients die or suffer prolonged complications following surgery.

Perioperative medicine is an emerging, multi-disciplinary approach which seeks to optimise the care of high-risk surgical patients. It encompasses disciplines such as anaesthetics, surgery, nursing, elderly care, physiotherapy and healthcare management.

In this RCoA-endorsed course, developed by anaesthetists at University College London (UCL) Hospitals, you’ll learn the key concepts you need to improve patient safety and reduce healthcare costs.

By the end of the Perioperative Medicine in Action course from UCL by FutureLearn, you'll be able to:

• Justify the need for better, more holistic care for the high risk surgical patient, to improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

• Engage with risk assessment tools to characterise and quantify the risk of an individual undergoing a particular procedure.

• Demonstrate the need for protocolised care pathways and evaluate the success of the enhanced recovery programmes in reducing variance in practice.

• Describe the major challenges in delivering perioperative medicine for the elderly.

• Discuss the current economic pressure on healthcare systems and how perioperative medicine can be used to reduce these pressures.