UC Irvine anesthesia experts introduce new model of surgical care
Perioperative Surgical Home conference shares care model with medical professionals from around the globe
June 30, 2014
The inaugural Perioperative Surgical Home Summit hosted by UCI Health Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care on June 7-8, 2014 provided medical professionals with evidence-based data for a new model of patient care that promises to improve the quality and safety of surgery in the U.S. and internationally. Data presented at the Summit demonstrates that the Perioperative Surgical Home model increases patient satisfaction, while reducing costs, complications, recovery times, and length of stay in the hospital.
“The Perioperative Surgical Home is a multi-departmental initiative aimed to transform surgical care by providing patients with an individualized service that is increasing quality of care, patient and provider satisfaction, and lowering costs,” said Dr. Zeev Kain, the co-director of the conference, a physician with with the UCI Health Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care, and one of the pioneers establishing the PSH in the U.S. “This shift in how we deliver surgical care, which is about 60 percent of hospital expenses, could reform U.S. healthcare from the frontlines.”
This perioperative care model – which refers to the period before, during and after surgery, spans the patient’s entire surgical experience, starting with the decision to have surgery through 30 to 90 days after hospital discharge. The care pathway is a mapped out by the medical professionals from the surgeons to the anesthesiologists to the nurses to the medical device specialists to the rehabilitation therapists, such that there is complete continuity of care as well as standardization of practices to enhance patient safety. UCI Health anesthesiologists published four papers in the May issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, a top medical journal, that demonstrated the efficacy of the Perioperative Surgical Home for total hip and total knee replacements. The cornerstone of this model is collaboration between all phases of the surgical episode, patient education and preparation for optimal clinical outcomes and standardizing evidence-based practices.
The inaugural Perioperative Surgical Home Summit attracted more than 340 attendees from 10 different nations and included anesthesiologists, surgeons, nurses and administrators. Speakers were the top experts in the field and discussed both their experiences with setting up the Perioperative Surgical Home model at their institutions, as well as evidence-based data on which the surgical home foundation is built.
Keynote speaker Prof. Henrik Kehlet of Rigshospitalet Copenhagen said, “Enhanced recovery pathways optimize health outcomes and resource utilization.” Dr. Kehlet pioneered ‘Fast-track’ surgery in Denmark in early 1999 and has more than 200 publications on the subject.
Summit highlights included a “nuts and bolts” session with UCI Health anesthesiologists Dr. Scott Engwall, Dr. Les Garson and Dr. Shermeen Vakharia about setting up a Perioperative Surgical Home in an academic or private practice. Dr. Maxime Cannesson, co-director of the Summit, presented methods for better management of the patient during surgery, and Dr. Stan Stead discussed the economics of the Perioperative Surgical Home concept.
Kain introduced change management as a critical element to success and wrapped up the conference by recapping the experience at UC Irvine Medical Center. With two surgical lines fully implemented as Perioperative Surgical Homes and the entire department of orthopaedic surgery being rolled out in October 2014, UCI Health is leading the way, changing health care as we know it in the surgical setting.
Information about the June 2014 event is available at the conference website: http://anesthesiology.uci.edu/psh2014.shtml
UCI Health comprises the clinical, medical education and research enterprises of the University of California, Irvine. Patients can access UCI Health at physician offices throughout Orange County and at its main campus, UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, Calif., a 412-bed acute care hospital that provides tertiary and quaternary care, ambulatory and specialty medical clinics, behavioral health and rehabilitation. U.S. News & World Report has listed it among America’s Best Hospitals for 13 consecutive years. UC Irvine Medical Center features Orange County’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program, Level I trauma center and Level II pediatric trauma center, and is the primary teaching hospital for UC Irvine School of Medicine. UCI Health serves a region of more than 3 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
