Successful day surgery depends on teamwork
across the patient pathway from the surgeon, anaesthetist and surgeon. Day surgery is not new and is
possible to achieve, using a large variety of anaesthetic methods, both old and new. However, there is
no doubt that the newer agents we now have available make day surgery possible for an increasing
number of longer and more invasive procedures
and for patients with more comorbidities.
However, the skill of the anaesthetist is vital in
ensuring that the patient is prepared, anaesthetised
but not over-dosed with the chosen anaesthetic
agent and provided with analgesia so they wake up
comfortable and with minimal side effects such as postoperative nausea and vomiting. This is the true skill and requires the anaesthetist to change from obsolete practice used for inpatient anaesthesia. Once skilled in day surgery anaesthesia, the
anaesthetist uses those skills in all his patients—all patients deserve the attention to
detail required for day surgery.
Therefore, anaesthesia now plays a crucial role in day surgery, and this book is a
timely addition to the available textbooks on this topic.