Preoperative Testing and Medication Management

The preoperative evaluation of the geriatric patient is an important time to make a series of assessments. Careful attention is paid to cardiac and pulmonary readiness for the physiologic stress of surgery. It is also a time to focus on the patient's mental capacities and social support system, and nutritional state. Because so many patients take multiple medications and supplements, the preoperative assessment is also a time to carefully review exactly what it being taken. It is a time to assess for drug interactions, and also to adjust medications to prepare the patient for the stress of surgery.