Poliklinisch preoperatief onderzoek door de anesthesioloog bij jonge volwassenen: anamnese en lichamelijk onderzoek volstaan, de korte vragenlijst van de Gezondheidsraad niet

- The report of the Netherlands Health Council ‘Preoperatief onderzoek; een herijking van uitgangspunten’ recommends that the health status of patients aged 16-39 years can be investigated preoperatively by the anaesthesiologist using a short questionnaire (6 questions).

- However, it is not clear whether such an abbreviated preoperative investigation will be informative enough for a safe and balanced anaesthesiologic management.

- An overview of relevant literature on the subject of preoperative investigation indicates that the preoperative physical status of patients as reflected by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification is a predictor of perioperative complications.

- Patients can be classified accordingly on the basis of an extended history and physical examination only: any routine additional investigation, such as ECG, chest X-ray or laboratory investigations, seem superfluous.

- Only blood group, rhesus factor and the presence of irregular antibodies may need to be determined if indicated by the kind of surgery.

- Currently, however, there is not sufficient evidence to dem- onstrate that the short questionnaire of the Netherlands Health Council is informative enough.