KHN News: A Push To Get Older Adults In Better Shape For Surgery
A Kaiser Health News (KHN) article, "A Push To Get Older Adults In Better Shape For Surgery," discusses innovative work that some hospitals are doing to ensure that older adults are adequately prepared for surgery and know what to expect afterwards.
New evidence from Duke’s POSH (Perioperative Optimization of Senior Health) program shows that older adults who went through the POSH program before major abdominal operations spent less time in the hospital (4 days versus 6 days for a control group), were less likely to return to the hospital in the next 30 days (7.8 percent vs. 18.3 percent), and were more likely to return home without the need for home health care (62.3 percent vs. 51.1 percent). POSH is an interdisciplinary model of care, bringing together surgeons, geriatricians, anesthesiologists and social workers while actively engaging older patients and their families.
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has recently released hospital standards to promote optimal surgical care of older adults. The ACS The Geriatric Surgery Verification & Quality Improvement Program is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation.
To read the KHN article, click here.
To read the JAMA Surgery POSH program abstract, click here.
To learn more about the POSH program, click here.
To read the Annals of Surgery ACS hospital standards abstract, click here.