Perioperative Special Interest Group – One Year On

The Perioperative Care of Older People Special Interest Group (Periop SIG) has just turned one and as another challenging year draws to a close, it is time to reflect on progress to date. The Periop SIG is ANZSGM’s first formally structured special interest group and so pressure is on the demonstrate the benefits that these groups can bring. I have the privilege of chairing this group ably assisted by Rajni Lal and Jo Dunlop. The SIG hit the ground running and set up a small number of working groups all of which have made progress this year.

The Education and Training working group is led by Christina Norris and John Geddes and has developed the theme of “setting up, getting up and keeping up to speed” in the care of older people in the surgical setting. Many will have watched the first of what will be a series of webinars for ANZSGM members interested in this space. Our very own Aisling Fleury and Rachel Aitken kicked us off with great talks which can be accessed via our website:

Our Position Statement around the perioperative care of older people is nearing completion and will be published early next year. A number of our members have contributed and I thanks Ming Loh for his persistence in moving this piece of work forward.

The Research Group has been remarkably active and is currently developing a minimum common dataset to help anyone starting out in the perioperative space to collect information using validated tools and consistently defined variables. The hope is that we will be better placed to collate information across sites in the future and build on the evidence base to support our role in the perioperative space. An expanded version of the dataset will be available for researchers in the field, again with the intent of promoting collaboration and strengthening our position as services start up and expand across Australia and New Zealand. It has been a delight to watch this work evolve under the leadership of Janani Thillainadesan, Margot Lodge and Yi-Harng Chong.

And finally the Curriculum and Fellowship Group is our outward facing group ensuring that we have a voice in the College of Physicians and with the Australia and New Zealand College of Anesthetists. The issue most pertinent to us at present is the development of the Perioperative Medicine Diploma which is being led by ANZCA. There has certainly been concern that this diploma could potentially disadvantage geriatricians and squeeze them out of the perioperative medicine space, making it difficult to secure funding for service expansion. I’m pleased to say that our relationship with ANZCA is maturing and meetings are collegial and productive. Ultimately we hope this diploma is something that will be of value to geriatricians wanting to work in the perioperative medicine space. Aisling Fleury has agreed to take on the role of being our lead contact with ANZCA.

So a year down the track and this SIG is thriving not least because of the energy and enthusiasm of its members and particularly its younger members. Geriatric medicine has a critical role to play in the surgical arena and in the care of frail older people. Our success in moving beyond the orthogeriatric space is dependent on robust evidence, effective collaborations and partnerships and good business cases to secure resources for our services. I am confident that over the coming years we will continue to see an expansion of high quality geriatric medicine services in the care of older surgical patients. Now that’s something worthy of a festive toast.

Jacqueline Close