Pre- and post- operative assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Pre- and post- operative assessment - Essay Example Health care needs in US communities are increasing, as is the demand for quality, cost-effective health care. (Barnett, 2005). Nursing personnel are more and more associated with helping the patients and medical practitioners now, and they have a crucial role to play in disease management and intervention. Laparotomy is a diagnostic procedure used to assess disease in the abdomen. One of the more frequent reasons for a laparotomy is to determine the extent cancer has spread. It is also used for acute situations in which the cause of the problem is unknown but the location is within the abdomen. Examples include perforated bowel, ectopic (outside the womb) pregnancy , endometriosis , appendicitis , bleeding, and inflammation of the pancreas. If the diagnosis made that laparotomy is amenable to further surgery, it is often done immediately. (Brigham and Women's Hospital 2006). Pre-operative assessment aims to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with surgery, prevent unnecessary cancellations, and minimize hospital stay. It benefits the nursing personnel as well as health practitioners to identify potential problems and develop a plan to prepare patients to a pre-surgical level of functioning to eliminate further surgical complications. It is a "very effective method for eliminating costly and unnecessary 'screening' investigations (Thomas, 2006). In the instant case, the i... (Brigham and Women's Hospital 2006). Pre-operative assessment aims to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with surgery, prevent unnecessary cancellations, and minimize hospital stay. It benefits the nursing personnel as well as health practitioners to identify potential problems and develop a plan to prepare patients to a pre-surgical level of functioning to eliminate further surgical complications. It is a "very effective method for eliminating costly and unnecessary 'screening' investigations (Thomas, 2006). In the instant case, the issues that need to be discussed at the pre-operative stage would be with regard to any special pre-operative program needed for Mrs. Maxshall and the estimated time for surgery, and time for recovery and convalescence. Since the patient is suffering from Osteoarthritis and remained a continuous smoker, performance of the lungs and heart needs to be monitored very closely. The aspect of anemia also requires to be taken into consideration. The advantages of utilizing the pre-admission clinic should be in terms of lower hospital stay and a better preparation, planning, and management of the surgery. The pre-admission also takes care of necessary tests and investigations for management of the operation. This also ensures that there is no delay for surgery upon admission, since it often happens that disadvantaged patients my get long date for surgery. Disadvantages of pre-admission clinic would be attributed to delay in diagnosis and initiating clinical/surgical procedures. If the patient develops abnormal symptoms after the investigations are carried out, but before being sent to the operating theater, the hospital stay also will be prolonged. In this case history the patient