A key part of the pre-operative journey is an assessment of the patient’s fitness for the anaesthetic and the identification of any risk factors that may need to be reviewed or acted upon by an anaesthetist before the procedure can go ahead, this is where Opara comes in.
Opara is a browser based online decision support tool that utilises key information about the patient’s planned procedure, current health and medical history. Using a set of algorithms designed, tested and refined over several years by a senior NHS Consultant Anaesthetist, Opara categorises the patient’s anaesthetic risk into one of three simple categories (red, amber or green). Patients in the red or amber category are highlighted for further review or intervention by the anaesthetist, while those in the green category are able to proceed to surgery without further anaesthetist intervention. Opara produces a summary report for each patient, which, in addition to their red, amber, green risk status, highlights areas for review by the anaesthetist and lists other factors or resources that may be required. The summary may be emailed to interested parties and may be viewed online by authorised users.
Opara can be fully integrated with the hospital’s patient administration system and theatre management system; so that pre-operative assessments can be linked to the patient’s TCI and theatre booking and summaries can be viewed within context from the theatre list.
Opara core benefits and features include:
- Simple categorisation of anaesthetic risk – highlights those patients that require anaesthetist’s attention and so focuses resources appropriately
- Support for internationally recognised risk scoring systems (Lee, Goldman)
- Integrates with PAS and Theatre Management systems
- Simple data collection through 2 page online questionnaire
- Attachments may be added to assessments – e.g. ECG traces
- Standardises the pre-op process supporting administrative and clinical staff in their decision making
- Highlights patients suitable for day case or same day admission
- Locally configurable. Questions can be added, removed or tailored to meet local requirements. It is even possible to configure additional local scoring systems
- Comprehensive, configurable reporting