Anesthesiologist’s role as a communication coordinator of perioperative medicine: stressing the recognition of role in the changing medical atmosphere

Abstract

Background: Perioperative care process in a hospital is considerably complex, involving multiple subprocesses, healthcare professionals, and systems in support of surgical care. The perioperative process is often the primary source of hospital admissions, driving the dominant part of hospital margins and accounts for a major part of all adverse events occurring in hospitals. The recent trend stresses the importance of adopting patient-centered and quality-proven care in many medical fields. Further, the emphasis on changing from fee-for-service to fee-for-value is increasing. These changes present challenges to anesthesiologists who play a central role in perioperative medicine.Current Concepts: Anesthesiologists are in contact with many surgeons and patients and are positioned to improve clinical outcomes. They need to have up-to-date, evidence-based knowledges on perioperative clinical management and know-how to apply, organize and practice them into efficient pathways for optimal outcomes. To accomplish such purposes, anesthesiologists need to acquire communication skills to reason and convincing related personnel including surgeons and patients.Discussion and Conclusion: The recent changing climate of perioperative medicine calls upon anesthesiologists to acquire knowledges driving quality care and demands the application of communicative skills to accomplish the required tasks.