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OR Excellence Awards - September 2018 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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Anesthesia Alert AA 2 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 One simple question is a pretty reliable predictor of the post-operative complications patients with pulmonary hyperten- sion (PHTN) will experi- ence: Can they walk up 2 flights of stairs without stopping for shortness of breath? This finding is described in the study, "Self-reported functional status predicts post-operative outcomes in non-cardiac surgery patients with pulmonary hyperten- sion," published in the journal PLOS ONE (osmag.net/k6AqSS). Asking a simple question sure beats scheduling a $3,000 echocardiography, says study co-author Gail Van Norman, MD, a University of Washington Medicine anesthesiologist. "If [a patient] can walk up two flights of stairs," says Dr. Van Norman, "you probably can do a laparoscopic gallbladder removal and reassure him that the risks of complications are pretty low." If a patient gets winded climbing stairs, there's a greater chance he'll have a longer stay in the hospital following a surgical procedure and experience such major complications as arrhyth- mia, acute renal failure or delirium, say researchers. Researchers also pinpointed which PHTN patients could move The Key Question to Ask Patients With Pulmonary Hypertension • GOING UP Climbing stairs can predict post-op issues for patients with pulmonary hypertension. TWO FLIGHTS UP

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