HORTA, Alexandra Bayão. Co-Management between Internal Medicine and Surgical Specialities: The Identification of the High Risk Patient. []. , 24, 1, pp.44-47. ISSN 0872-671X.

Quality of care for older surgical in-patients, often suffering from pre-existing co-morbidity, requires hospital organization fostering the cooperation of multi-disciplinary teams. Co-management programmes have proved to be the most adequate for this purpose. However, the costs involved in this approach warrant careful patient selection. Ascertaining surgical risk in individual patients is a pre-requisite for quality and outcome control. The patient’s specific characteristics, the surgical procedure itself and the institutional environment are the three main groups of inputs for a comprehensive selection and decision-making framework. Comparative effectiveness research is required to gather clinical evidence to support the rational use of collaborative and differentiated management of selected patients in modern hospital settings. A literature-based review article was done that included an overview of outcomes research and outcome measures.

: Comparative Effectiveness Research; Decision Making; Hospitalists; Internal Medicine; Patient Care Team/ organization & administration; Postoperative Complications; Preoperative Care; Surgical Procedures; Operative.

        · |     ·     · ( pdf )