Coordinating perioperative care for the 'high risk' general surgical patient using risk prediction scoring

Identifying 'high risk' (> 5% mortality score) emergency general surgical patients early, allows appropriate perioperative care to be allocated by securing critical care beds and ensuring the presence of senior surgeons and senior anesthetists intraoperatively. Scoring systems can be used to predict perioperative risk and coordinate resources perioperatively. Currently it is unclear which estimate of risk correlates with current resource deployment. A retrospective study was undertaken assessing the relationship between deployment of perioperative resources: senior surgeon, senior anesthetist and critical care bed. The study concluded that almost all high risk patients with high POSSUM mortality and morbidity scores had a consultant senior surgeon present intraoperatively. Critically unwell patients with higher operative severity and perioperative morbidity scores received higher care (HDU/ICU) beds postoperatively, ensuring that they received appropriate care if their condition deteriorated. Therefore POSSUM scoring should be used perioperatively in emergency cases to coordinate appropriate perioperative care for high risk general surgical patients.