Hospitals should have a policy covering the transfer of blood products with patients to and from other hospitals.193 ...
Hospitals should have a policy covering the transfer of blood products with patients to and from other hospitals.193
Hospitals should have a policy covering the transfer of blood products with patients to and from other hospitals.193
Experienced anaesthetic and surgical staff should manage obese patients. Ideally, morbidly obese patients should be preassessed by a senior anaesthetist.35
Thromboprophylaxis protocols: all patients should undergo venous thromboembolism risk assessment and appropriate prophylaxis methods should be employed.3,194 This should include guidance on the novel oral anticoagulants and the management of patients requiring emergency surgery who are receiving them.195,196
Handover should be structured to ensure continuity of care.199
Organisations must create standardised documentation for patients undergoing invasive procedures that promotes the sharing of patient information between individuals and teams at points of handover, and forms a record for future reference.25
Handover of care should always be to a member of staff who is competent to look after the patient at that time.197
A defined governance structure should focus on clinical outcomes, audit and regular review of practice through critical incident reporting, clinical risk management, complaints monitoring, research and development and Continuing Professional Education and Development. This should include regular discussion at Hospital Board level, executive and divisional levels and via the clinical quality review process.33,169
Robust data collection underpins much of the success in documenting and learning from experiences.1,33,126 All institutions providing anaesthesia care to emergency surgery patients should collect the required data to be able to produce an annual report on a variety of relevant patient morbidity and mortality metrics, including return to theatre within 24 hours. This report...