Today CPOC publishes the third in a series of evidence reviews that are helping to make the case for perioperative care.
Following our reviews on the impact of perioperative care and multidisciplinary working, we now explore what is known about what healthcare professionals and patients think about perioperative care. Having searched 10 bibliographic databases and screened more than 3,000 articles, we summarise learning from 41 UK studies.
Dr David Selwyn, CPOC’s Director, said:
“This report provides a tentative picture of how staff and patients in the UK view the perioperative care pathway and integrated care systems across primary, secondary and community care.
Our review found that healthcare professionals appear to support the principles of perioperative care. They are keen for greater investment to develop and evaluate perioperative pathways, and to enable more opportunities for multidisciplinary working.
Surgical patients, in turn, generally support a perioperative approach to their care, and want more information and support in hospital after surgery and after discharge to help them to avoid and manage complications. They would also value a seamless connection between primary and secondary care.”
The report provides useful pointers for how organisations and systems could work better together. Building on this experience would help to develop and improve the perioperative care pathways that are already proven to have better outcomes for patients.
However, it is striking that relatively little has been published about what people think about perioperative care and integration in the UK. We encourage those undertaking research or evaluation in this area to publish their findings. We remain committed to engaging further with patients and professionals as part of the journey to embed perioperative care.
