Preoperative assessment

The pre-anaesthetic visit: ASA class, the airway, cardiac risk, fasting, which medicines to continue or stop, and consent.

9 pages

Concept

• Anticoagulants, antiplatelets and neuraxial blocksBlood thinners must be paused for the right time before a spinal or epidural and its catheter…
• Consent for anaesthesiaBefore anaesthesia, the patient hears what will be done, its main risks and options, and freely…
• Premedication and aspiration prophylaxisSome patients receive medicines before anaesthesia to ease anxiety or to make stomach contents…
• Preoperative fasting: what and whyPatients stop eating and drinking for some hours before anaesthesia so the stomach is empty and…
• Which medicines to continue or stop before surgeryBefore an operation the team decides, medicine by medicine, which ones to keep taking and which…

Assessment

• ASA physical status classificationA six-level scale that describes how ill a patient is before an anaesthetic, from healthy (I) to…
• Cardiac risk before non-cardiac surgeryBefore an operation the doctor estimates how likely the heart is to suffer, and decides whether…
• Predicting a difficult airway: Mallampati, mouth opening, neck and jawBefore anaesthesia the doctor looks at the mouth, jaw and neck to predict whether breathing for…
• The pre-anaesthetic visit: history, examination and testsBefore surgery an anaesthetist talks with the patient, examines them and orders only the tests…

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← Anaesthesia and critical care

Educational content; it does not replace supervised training, your institution's protocols or the anaesthetist's or intensivist's decision. It contains no doses and no ventilator or infusion settings.

Representative model, for educational purposes only.