Preoperative evaluation of pediatric surgical patients with multisystem considerations.

Fewer and fewer patients spend time in the hospital in advance of a surgical or interventional procedure requiring anesthesia care. As a result, there is increasing reliance on a thorough preoperative evaluation directed toward identifying anesthetic risks. For this to occur, each medical institution must have a clear and comprehensive system that processes patients during the preoperative period. There are specific and unique personnel and system requirements for the accumulation of multidisciplinary information in the pediatric patient population. The justification for the cost of this type of program is the savings realized by the decrease in wasted operating room time due to inadequate or incomplete patient preparation. The following is a description of a successful perioperative evaluation and preparation process that has been in place for 7 yr in a major pediatric academic institution.