What is “routine” anyway?

Abstract

In this thought-provoking article, Dr Taylor et al 1 Taylor G.A. Oresanya L.B. Kling S.M. et al. Rethinking the routine: preoperative laboratory testing among american society of anesthesiologists Class 1 and 2 patients before to low-risk ambulatory surgery in the 2017 national surgical quality improvement program cohort. Surgery. 2022; 171: 267-274 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (1) Google Scholar challenge the common practice of doing routine preoperative lab testing in low-risk patients for outpatient surgical procedures. They evaluated the 2017 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data set retrospectively to identify American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification 1 or 2 patients who had basic laboratory testing within 30 days of a low-risk, elective outpatient surgery. About half of the patients in the data set had preoperative laboratory testing, and nearly half of those that were tested had at least 1 abnormal result. The overall complication rates were low in both the tested (2.5%), as well as the untested (1.7%) patients. They concluded that “preoperative testing should be used more judiciously in this population, which may lead to cost-savings.” 1 Taylor G.A. Oresanya L.B. Kling S.M. et al. Rethinking the routine: preoperative laboratory testing among american society of anesthesiologists Class 1 and 2 patients before to low-risk ambulatory surgery in the 2017 national surgical quality improvement program cohort. Surgery. 2022; 171: 267-274 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (1) Google Scholar Rethinking the routine: Preoperative laboratory testing among American Society of Anesthesiologists class 1 and 2 patients before low-risk ambulatory surgery in the 2017 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program cohortSurgeryVol. 171Issue 2PreviewRoutine preoperative laboratory testing is not recommended for American Society of Anesthesiologists classification 1 or 2 patients before low-risk ambulatory surgery. Full-Text PDF