title: Nuts and bolts of preoperative clinics: the view from three institutions.
abstract: Three directors of dedicated preoperative assessment clinics share their experience in setting up and running their programs. Standardizing and centralizing all or part of the preoperative evaluation process--obtaining patient records; the history and physical examination; the surgical, anesthesiology, and nursing assessments; ordering tests; and documentation and billing--increases efficiency. The savings achieved from minimizing redundancy, avoiding surgery delays and cancellations, and improved reimbursement coding offset the increased costs of setting up and running the clinic.
authors.affiliation: Weiner Center for Preoperative Evaluation, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bader
authors.forename: Bobbiejean
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sweitzer
authors.forename: Ajay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D057179:Advanced Practice Nursing; D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006739:Hospital Administration; D006748:Hospital Departments / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States