Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 December 2010
Summary
The positioning of patients for surgical operations is often omitted or mentioned only briefly in operative texts. More attention is usually afforded to the description of the surgical approach and the surgical procedure itself. However, accurate set-up is obligatory. Without it the rest of the operation is likely to be more challenging or even hazardous. Each operative position represents an agreement between the surgeon and the anaesthetist. This agreement should not be a competitive exercise, as the deal struck by both practitioners considers the safety of the patient as the utmost priority.
The surgeon requires an adequate area in which to perform the operation. The position chosen should provide accessibility to the surgical field that remains stable for the duration of the operation. The anaesthetist has similar requirements. They may be administering a local, regional or a general anaesthetic, and they must have access to the patient after the surgery has started. The position chosen, therefore, must allow the anaesthetist the ability to continue the anaesthetic, administer intravenous fluids and provide access to monitor the patient. It is both the surgeon's and anaesthetist's responsibility, with support and often guidance from allied health care workers, that the risks from a particular position are reduced to an absolute minimum.
This book has been designed to guide the approach of all theatre personnel in how to position a patient for a procedure in general and orthopaedic surgery. It is a guide, as local and individual practitioners’ preferences vary. No position is entirely safe and none are set in stone.
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- Information
- Positioning Patients for Surgery , pp. 1Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009