Perioperative Medicine: A Problem-Based Learning Approach

In recent years anesthesiologists have developed a more active role in the entire peri-operative period-from the decision for surgery, through recovery, discharge and beyond. In addition, the core training curriculum of anesthesiology has changed significantly to now include many non-operating room anesthesia rotations.General anesthesiology texts include varying degrees of perioperative management information, and a few titles are devoted specifically to the area. However, none combines a problem-based approach with review questions and answers with explanations.

Following the format of the Anesthesiology Problem-Based Learning Approach series, each chapter in Perioperative Medicine describes a specific condition or situation and a virtual case presented through a series of questions and answers. With 48 chapters covering a broad array of conundrums encountered in clinical perioperative medicine, the text focuses on preoperative optimization of patients with different comorbidities, such as coronary artery disease, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obstructive sleep apnea, diabetes mellitus, cirrhosis, substance use disorder, and anemia. Sections on how to choose preoperative tests, medication management, and handling ethical issues, like informed consent, DNR, and uncomfortable conversations with patients, are discussed in detail.

Perioperative Medicine: A Problem-Based Learning Approach provides an up-to-date compendium of topics commonly presenting in daily practice and serves as a unique learning opportunity for the busy perioperative clinician approaching a new case and for clinicians in training who need to learn the basics.

Deborah C. Richman, MBChB, FFA(SA) trained at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Subsequently she was on the faculty of the Technion in Haifa, Israel - at Ha'Emek hospital in Afula. She started one of the first pre-operative clinics in Israel. Currently, as associate professor of clinical anesthesiology at Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook, her roles include: medical director of Pre-Operative Services since 2006, member of the Institutional Ethics Committee and ACLS instructor.
Deborah is past president of SPAQI (Society for Perioperative Assessment and Quality Improvement); and serves on their board of governors.

Debra Pulley, MD is Professor of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. She first became intrigue with medicine while working as an environmental engineer managing disposal of hazardous waste and learning the effect industrial toxics can have on the human body. After medical school, she chose to specialize in anesthesiology. Several years into providing anesthetic care to patients, Debra recognized the need for multidisciplinary involvement in optimizing perioperative care of patients. She has served as president of the Society of Perioperative Assessment and Quality Improvement (SPAQI) and is currently on the Board of Governors.

Adriana D. Oprea, MD is Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Yale School of Medicine After completing a residency program in Internal Medicine, she worked as a hospitalist at Yale New Haven Hospital and retrained in Anesthesiology. She is dual board certified in internal medicine and anesthesiology and her area of academic and clinical interest is preoperative optimization, especially for patients with endocrine and hematologic disorders.
She serves on multiple national committees on Perioperative Medicine and is part of the executive and guidelines committees for the Society for Perioperative Assessment and Quality Improvement (SPAQI).