Tag Archives: postoperative follow-up

Introduction In the UK, over 35,000 cardiac operations are performed annually.1 Traditionally, patients who have undergone cardiac surgery return to the outpatient clinic for their first postoperative review by the specialist team six weeks after hospital discharge. There is no evidence to show that six weeks is the optimal interval before these patients, with ongoing risks of postoperative complications, are reviewed. Not infrequently, after hospital discharge, cardiac surgery patients make unplanned hospital visits and/or require readmission during the six-week wait for outpatient review, due to surgery-related complications.2-4 While readm