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Description

Over the last several decades, it has become the desire of surgical and medical teams to decrease risk levels involved for patients undergoing surgery. However, despite the advent of risk assessment calculators to help physicians obtain more accurate and objective judgements for postoperative complications, these tools are underutilized in standard clinical practices in comparison to other methods of risk assessment. This is likely due at least in part to certain barriers that decrease their functionality and ease of use. This review discusses the major barriers to the utilization of current risk calculators so as to allow for a better understanding of the steps that need to be taken in order to help improve surgical risk assessment and the use of more objective data in assessing the risk of perioperative complications.

Per the literature, there are many barriers to the implementation of surgical calculators and surgical risk assessment tools, including but not limited to those identified in this review. However, using these tools is important especially for those who may be requiring surgery in an inpatient setting where there is less time to do full risk-benefit analyses. As such, it is essential that such tools be revised and improved considering these barriers so that they may be better implemented in clinical settings.

Disciplines

Health Services Administration | Health Services Research | Neurosurgery | Orthopedics | Other Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment | Patient Safety | Plastic Surgery | Quality Improvement | Surgery | Surgical Procedures, Operative

Document Type

Poster

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A Narrative Review of Barriers to Utilization of Surgical Risk Assessment Calculators

Over the last several decades, it has become the desire of surgical and medical teams to decrease risk levels involved for patients undergoing surgery. However, despite the advent of risk assessment calculators to help physicians obtain more accurate and objective judgements for postoperative complications, these tools are underutilized in standard clinical practices in comparison to other methods of risk assessment. This is likely due at least in part to certain barriers that decrease their functionality and ease of use. This review discusses the major barriers to the utilization of current risk calculators so as to allow for a better understanding of the steps that need to be taken in order to help improve surgical risk assessment and the use of more objective data in assessing the risk of perioperative complications.

Per the literature, there are many barriers to the implementation of surgical calculators and surgical risk assessment tools, including but not limited to those identified in this review. However, using these tools is important especially for those who may be requiring surgery in an inpatient setting where there is less time to do full risk-benefit analyses. As such, it is essential that such tools be revised and improved considering these barriers so that they may be better implemented in clinical settings.