This simple reference book should answer most of your questions about the risks of surgery and is written in understandable language.

The Handbook of Surgical Consent is a new and valuable tool, written by experts, and offering practical guidance in the principles of consent, alongside procedure-specific information on risks and benefits.

The first textbook on the subject, this is a practical, clinically comprehensive guide to ethical issues in surgical practice, research, and education written by some of the most prominent figures in the fields of surgery and bioethics. Discussions of informed consent, confidentiality, and advance directives--core concepts integral to every surgeon-patient relationship--open the volume. Seven chapters tackle the ethical issues in surgical practice, covering the full range of surgical patients--from emergency, acute, high-risk, and elective patients, to poor surgical risk and dying patients. The book even considers the special relationship between the surgeon and patients who are family members or friends. Chapters on surgical research and education address innovation, self-regulation in practice and research, and the prevention of unwarranted bias. Two chapters focus on the multidisciplinary nature of surgery, including the relationships between surgery and other medical specialties and the obligations of the surgeon to other members of the surgical team. The economic dimensions of surgery, especially within managed care, are addressed in chapters on the surgeons financial relationships with patients, conflicts of interest, and relationships with payers and institutions. The authors do not engage in abstract discussions of ethical theory; instead, their discussions are always directly relevant to the everyday concerns of practicing surgeons. This well-integrated volume is intended for practicing surgeons, medical educators, surgical residents, bioethicists, and medical students.

Surgeons have a duty to provide accurate information before asking for consent for surgery, and patients are increasingly interested in obtaining as much information as possible regarding their procedures. Consent in Surgery addresses these vital areas, outlining the consent process for common surgical procedures, including indications, benefits, risks/complications, alternative treatment options, a brief description of each procedure and summaries of the relevant scientific evidence. It contains procedures from subspecialties including cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, general surgery, paediatric surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, trauma and orthopaedic surgery, otolaryngology and urology. The procedures included fall within the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Project and MRCS syllabi, and are assessed during higher specialist training, making the book an essential revision and interview preparation tool. 'Helpful to all surgeons in their general approach to this issue and to those in each of the specialties with regard to specific operations.' - From the Foreword by John Black 'A welcome guide, written by authoritative voices and of digestible length. This volume on consent should be in every ward library, close to hand for the ever more rapidly changing teams managing surgical patients.' - From the Foreword by Tim Goodacre

Confronted with worldwide evidence of substantial public health harm due to inadequate patient safety, the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2002 adopted a resolution (WHA55.18) urging countries to strengthen the safety of health care and monitoring systems. The resolution also requested that WHO take a lead in setting global norms and standards and supporting country efforts in preparing patient safety policies and practices. In May 2004, the WHA approved the creation of an international alliance to improve patient safety globally; WHO Patient Safety was launched the following October. For the first time, heads of agencies, policy-makers and patient groups from around the world came together to advance attainment of the goal of "First, do no harm" and to reduce the adverse consequences of unsafe health care. The purpose of WHO Patient Safety is to facilitate patient safety policy and practice. It is concentrating its actions on focused safety campaigns called Global Patient Safety Challenges, coordinating Patients for Patient Safety, developing a standard taxonomy, designing tools for research policy and assessment, identifying solutions for patient safety, and developing reporting and learning initiatives aimed at producing 'best practice' guidelines. Together these efforts could save millions of lives by improving basic health care and halting the diversion of resources from other productive uses. The Global Patient Safety Challenge, brings together the expertise of specialists to improve the safety of care. The area chosen for the first Challenge in 2005-2006, was infection associated with health care. This campaign established simple, clear standards for hand hygiene, an educational campaign and WHO's first Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care. The problem area selected for the second Global Patient Safety Challenge, in 2007-2008, was the safety of surgical care. Preparation of these Guidelines for Safe Surgery followed the steps recommended by WHO. The groundwork for the project began in autumn 2006 and included an international consultation meeting held in January 2007 attended by experts from around the world. Following this meeting, expert working groups were created to systematically review the available scientific evidence, to write the guidelines document and to facilitate discussion among the working group members in order to formulate the recommendations. A steering group consisting of the Programme Lead, project team members and the chairs of the four working groups, signed off on the content and recommendations in the guidelines document. Nearly 100 international experts contributed to the document (see end). The guidelines were pilot tested in each of the six WHO regions--an essential part of the Challenge--to obtain local information on the resources required to comply with the recommendations and information on the feasibility, validity, reliability and cost-effectiveness of the interventions.

This book provides a comprehensive review of mental health topics for pre- and postsurgical patients. The book discusses general aspects of psychiatric care during the immediate pre- and postsurgical phase, such as pain management, psychopharmacological management or legal aspects of informed consent. The volume dedicates one section to specific subspecialties, including cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, organ transplantation, plastic surgery, bariatric surgery, and many others. Each of these chapters address preoperative psychiatric risk factors, evaluations, impact, and management recommendations for prevention and treatment of the most common psychiatric complications. The final section reviews the current dilemmas and questions for future research in this field, including delirium and capacity evaluation. The text concludes with commentary written by experts in the fields of consultation-liaison psychiatry and surgery on future directions and considerations. Perioperative Psychiatry is a valuable resource for psychiatrists, psychologists, surgeons, trainees, nurses, social workers, and all medical professionals concerned with the behavioral health of surgical patients.

This pocket book succinctly describes 318 errors commonly made by attendings, residents, interns, nurses, and nurse-anesthetists in the intensive care unit, and gives practical, easy-to-remember tips for avoiding these errors. The book can easily be read immediately before the start of a rotation or used for quick reference on call. Each error is described in a short, clinically relevant vignette, followed by a list of things that should always or never be done in that context and tips on how to avoid or ameliorate problems. Coverage includes all areas of ICU practice except the pediatric intensive care unit.