A quick tip on when to test

Same-day surgery providers should perform a preoperative evaluation on elderly patients before the day of surgery and stabilize their medical conditions before surgery.

Pre-op testing allows you to involve the intern-ist, organize elderly patients into care, and start medications, "so when they come to surgery that’s elective, they’re in the best possible outcomes," says Sheila R. Barnett, MD, director of education in the anesthesiology department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

"It’s not the illness, per se, but how well-controlled it is," Barnett says.