Nurse Practitioner / Physician Assistant - Surgical Optimization (Finance)

Provide pre-operative evaluations for surgical patients with acute and chronic conditions in an ambulatory setting with a focus on improving patient readiness, outcomes and experience.

Responsibilities

Preoperative Assessment:

• Conduct comprehensive evaluations of patients scheduled for surgery, including medical history, physical examinations, and risk assessments.
• Provide telephone consultation, follow-up phone calls; assess needs and make recommendations and/or referrals as appropriate
• Identify any potential barriers to surgery, such as comorbidities, medication issues, and or psychosocial factors.
• Responsible for the work-up and follow up of patients seen in the office
• Writes preoperative orders according to patient needs and departmental guidelines
• Makes recommendations for initial postoperative care

Patient Education:

• Educate patients and their families about the surgical procedure, expected outcomes and post-operative care.
• Discuss preoperative instructions, including medication management, dietary restrictions, and lifestyle modifications.

Care Coordination:

• Collaborate with surgical teams, anesthesiologists, and other healthcare providers to ensure a multidisciplinary approach to patient care.
• Schedule necessary preoperative tests and consultations to optimize patient's health prior to surgery.
• Refer patients to physician, and/or specialist as necessary
• Refer back to PCP when needed
• Checks preoperative laboratory, EKG and x-ray data; any significant abnormal finding should be addressed timely and reported to the attending surgeon and/or PCP when appropriate
• Notifies attending surgeon of any issues regarding patient that potentially will delay/cancel procedure
• For patients that are deemed not to be optimizable, makes recommendations for nonsurgical care to improve quality of life

Optimization Strategies:

• Implement strategies to optimize patient's health before surgery: referrals to smoking cessation programs, weight management/nutrition programs, prehab and specialty care including pain management.
• Utilize evidence-based guidelines to enhance surgical readiness, reduce perioperative complications, improve patient outcomes and patient experience.