Anaesthetic pre-admission clinics

The concept of pre-admission anaesthetic screening is not new. It has been extensively employed in day care units. Patients presenting for elective surgery as in-patients often have co-existing medical problems and would benefit from pre-admission screening. However, the sophisticated methods of pre-assessment needed for this group of complex patients are not widely available. A lack of manpower has also contributed to the slow establishment of pre-admission screening clinics. There has been a recent surge of interest in the establishment of pre-admission anaesthetic clinics. This has been prompted by the recognition that operations are cancelled on the day of surgery because patients are found to be medically unfit. It has been recognized that the role of the nurse in this field can be extended. Information about a patient's health can be collected by questionnaire, which may be presented using a computer. This frees consultants from data collection and allows them to focus on clinical decisions. The use of computerized pre-anaesthetic evaluation will become more relevant as the electronic patient record becomes more widely available.