Perioperative Medicine Podcast Series

Special guest Belinda Macleod-Smith joins us to discuss the important role of including patients and their loved ones in the process of designing new policies, processes, and models of care.

Critical incidents can have a significant psychological impact on those involved. Such incidents are rare but it is important to have a process in place to enable those involved in such an event to have the opportunity to debrief in a safe and supportive environment. The 'hot debrief' is one such process.

In 2024 Alfred Health launched an innovative multidisciplinary Perioperative Medical Service to improve the care of surgical patients. In this podcast we talk to Nadine Laurent and Stephanie Jinks, Clinical Nurse Consultants on the Perioperative Service, about the pivotal role nursing staff play as part of the perioperative team.

Professor Warren Clements is an interventional radiologist and researcher at the Alfred hospital and Monash University. In this podcast, Warren discusses the seven habits that he regards as important in helping to become a highly effective clinician-scientist.

A Just Culture in the workplace means that everyone should feel safe to speak up, and leads to open and honest communication, systems thinking, engagement, and participation, where everyone is involved in making improvements. Professor Janet Anderson and Garry Mann, our Human Factors team, talk to Yooralla’s Director of Just Culture Miranda Cornelissen, about the benefits of implementing a Just Culture in the workplace.

Thuy Bui is the Lead Pharmacist of the Analgesic Stewardship and Perioperative Medicine Services at the Alfred. She discusses the very important role of the pharmacist in all stages of the Perioperative process.

Increasing numbers of older people are undergoing surgery and adverse outcomes are common within this patient group. Dr Margot Lodge is a Geriatrician with a special interest in Perioperative Medicine. She discusses the role of the geriatrician in Perioperative Medicine and the use of implementation science in adopting new models of care for the older person undergoing surgery.

Dr Sarah Wilmot is a GP Anaesthetist in rural Victoria. For her Master of Perioperative Medicine Capstone Project, Sarah redesigned the pre-anaesthetic process in her practice in an effort to improve patient experience. She discusses her project, including the challenges she faced and the lessons learned when trying to bring about change. Note: this podcast was recorded earlier this year. At the time, Sarah had been recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. Despite feeling unwell she was keen to share her project with a wider audience. Tragically Sarah passed away last month. This conversation is shared in memory of Dr Sarah Wilmott and her dedication to the best care of her patients.

SARS-CoV-2 infection increases perioperative risks, both with the acute infection and its aftermath. Accruing data suggests that elective surgery should be deferred for 7 weeks for most types of surgery, although individualised risk assessment may reduce or increase this timeframe. Paul Myles talks with Dr Kariem El-Boghdadly from Guy's Hospital in London, the lead author of a recently published consensus statement arising in the UK.

In this episode Dr Adam Sutton talks to Aidan Baron about healthcare for people with diverse genders. They explore healthcare outcomes, what is meant by gender identity, gender expression, sex and attraction and how these relate to the LGBTQIA PLUS acronym. Aidan provides insights as to how to improve communication and engagement with this community and an overview of gender affirming medical care in Australia.

In this episode Joff Lacey talks to Hilary Madder, consultant anaesthetist at The Alfred and former Clinical Director of Neurosciences Intensive Care at the John Radcliffe, in Oxford. They explore the growing sub-speciality of neurocritical care, including the rationale for the development of specialised neuro intensive care units, the evidence of impact on patient outcome and what may be the key determinants of improved clinical care.

Postoperative delirium is a serious complication of surgery associated with prolonged hospitalisation, long-term cognitive decline, and mortality. Associate Professor Lisbeth Evered joined us from New York to discuss her recent paper, published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, with Associate Professor Christine Ball. This important paper resulted from a sub-study of the BALANCED trial to determine whether targeting bispectral index (BIS) readings of 50 (light anaesthesia) was associated with a lower incidence of POD than targeting BIS readings of 35 (deep anaesthesia).

Professor Toby Richards, (the Lawrence-Brown Professor of Vascular Surgery at the University of Western Australia) joins Dr Jonathan Nicholson, Dr Ron Glick and Dr Alan Peirce to discus the PREVENTT trial. Published in the LANCET (Sept, 2020), PREVENTT was a landmark RCT investigating preoperative iron transfusion prior to major abdominal surgery and its impact on postoperative mortality and overall transfusion rates.