The work that happens before the big day…

There is obviously a lot of work that goes into the whole experience of the anaesthetic on the big day. What might not be so obvious is that a heap of work happens in the lead up to that day.

For example with the patients having a planned trip to hospital, a request to start making it happen hits the system. That then kicks off a whole review process that starts with someone like Blanche.

Of course this very brief video still doesn’t make it that easy to understand how much work this all involves. There are thousands of planned trips to the hospital involving an anaesthetic each year. So each one gets an initial review from the team. That means hundreds per week.

Some of those patients need to be seen in the clinic to have a consultation. That’s hundreds of patients a year requiring a coordinated trip or telehealth consultation with one of the anaesthetists.

Then there’s the multidisciplinary coordination that arises from those consultations. Plus lots of direct work with the families.

It is a lot of effort but it is vital to making the journey that Blanche mentions as excellent as possible.

Which brings us back to the fact that anaesthesia really isn’t just about sleep.