Development of a perioperative medicine research agenda: a cross sectional survey.
BACKGROUND
Post-operative complications are a significant source of morbidity and mortality for patients undergoing surgery. However, there is little research in the emerging field of perioperative medicine beyond cardiac risk stratification. We sought to determine the research priorities for perioperative medicine using a cross sectional survey of Canadian and American general internists.


METHODS
Surveys were electronically sent to 312 general internists from the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine and 130 internists from the perioperative medicine research interest group within the US based Society of General Internal Medicine. The questionnaire contained thirty research questions and respondents were asked to rate the priority of these questions for future study.


RESULTS
The research topics with the highest ratings included: the need for tight control of diabetes mellitus postoperatively and the value of starting aspirin on patients at increased risk for postoperative cardiac events. Research questions evaluating the efficacy and safety of perioperative interventions had higher ratings than questions relating to the prediction of postoperative risk. Questions relating to the yield of preoperative diagnostic tests had the lowest ratings (p < 0.001 for differences across these categories).


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this survey suggest that practicing general internists believe that interventions studies are a priority within perioperative medicine. These findings should help prioritize research in this emerging field.
Khan
Nadia A
NA
Department of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N1, Canada. nakhan@shaw.ca.
Taher
Taha
T
McAlister
Finlay A
FA
Ferland
Andre
A
Campbell
Norman R
NR
Ghali
William A
WA
D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine; D008297:Male; D019990:Perioperative Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012106:Research; D014481:United States