Oral Presentation Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting 2025

Implementing a perioperative medicine for older people undergoing surgery (POPS) service: a guide for clinical leaders (119366)

Margot E Lodge 1 2 3 , Jugdeep Dhesi 4 5 , Nadine E Andrew 2 3 , Velandai Srikanth 2 3 6 , Darshini R Ayton 2 7 8 , Chris Moran 1 2 3 6 8
  1. Health of Older People, Alfred Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  2. National Centre for Healthy Ageing, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  3. Peninsula Clinical School, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  4. Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
  5. King's College London, London, United Kingdom
  6. Peninsula Health, Frankston, Victoria, Australia
  7. Health and Social Care Unit, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  8. School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Aims: To translate previous implementation science research describing the implementation of perioperative medicine for older people undergoing surgery (POPS) services into a format that is comprehensible and relevant to clinical leaders contemplating implementing a POPS service.

 

Methods: We conducted a multi-stage end-user review process to design a POPS implementation guide. Step 1: Informed by a multi-site qualitative case study in the United Kingdom and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research we created a draft POPS service implementation guide. Step 2: Multidisciplinary clinical leaders in perioperative medicine (allied health, anaesthetics, geriatric medicine, nursing, surgery; n=12) from five contextually-different health services participated in two rounds of review and refinement of the guide for the Australian context.

 

Results: Step 1: The draft POPS service implementation guide consisted of four parts: defining the elements of a POPS service, assessing and planning for the implementation of a POPS service, evaluating the outcomes of implementing a POPS service and extra resources. Step 2: The clinical leaders provided feedback on the guide including suggestions to modify implementation science-based language, the inclusion of references and ‘next steps’, and support for elements of the guide like layout, usability and length. We revised the guide to produce the final version of the POPS service implementation guide.

 

Conclusions: Using an implementation science-based approach, we have created an Australian-first POPS service implementation guide that is comprehensible and relevant to clinical leaders in perioperative care. Future work includes a pilot study of the guide and assessing its utility supporting implementation of POPS services.