Pre-Anesthesia Clinic

The Department of Anesthesiology opened a comprehensive UW Health
Pre-Anesthesia Clinic on October 3, 2023. The clinic expands our reach and
better evaluates and prepares patients for surgery. Additionally, the pre-anesthesia clinic will result in improved patient and health system outcomes and increased patient and family satisfaction. The clinic is directed by Dr. William Hartman, who brings his expertise and experience in augmenting pre-anesthesia care systems. Dr. Hartman recruited 14 faculty members who will be primarily staffing the clinic, with support from our APP, Anne Barnett, and our current PASS Clinic RN’s, as well as our rotating residents.

Providing Patient-Centric Care

Timely preparation of surgical patients decreases their risk of complications
and reduces costs related to longer hospital stays and readmissions. The
new clinic, located in East Madison Hospital, will dramatically increase the
number of surgical patients we consult each year — from approximately
6,000 today to more than 22,000. Historically, our pre-anesthesia surgical
service (PASS) clinic nurses performed chart reviews and screened phone
calls to risk-stratify patients that surgical clinics had identified as high-risk.
In contrast, our new, comprehensive pre-anesthesia clinic will risk-stratify
patients based on comorbidities and/or surgical risk and will allow for both
in-person and virtual patient consultations.

Future Focused

Over time, we expect the new clinic to become a perioperative service, with
a greater focus on optimization of patients and an Enhanced Recovery after
Surgery (ERAS) approach to many service lines. Eventually, it also will
provide pre-habilitation for patients in need of baseline health improvements
prior to surgery.