Preoperative Assessment 2025 Updates

1. Add – GLP-1 Question

After the general medications question for adult patients, we’ve added,”Do you take any GLP-1 receptor agonists or weight loss medications?”
If the patient answers “Yes” they’ll be prompted to “Please detail each medication + amount taken + how often you take it”.

Why? Member feedback and the growing popularity of GLP-1 receptor agonists, which carry significant anaesthetic risks. 

We initially hesitated to add another question to our comprehensive questionnaire, as injections and weight loss medications were already asked under general medications. However, we have heard that patients sometimes do not disclose them. The new question aims to capture these details that patients might overlook because they’re embarrassed or don’t understand how it relates to their anaesthetic care. This addition not only enhances patient safety but also provides additional protection for Anaesthetists. This change was supported by 84% of members who responded to a survey:

• I totally agree!
• In last year lots of patients have gone on weight loss medications. These weight medications have significant (can be life threatening) implications on anaesthetic. Some patients think it is not worth mentioning that in medications question (embarrassed, not enough knowledge etc can be reasons) 
• It has become ongoing growing issue, and it would be great if this added clearly to the questionnaire
• I think the inclusion of this additional medication question is an excellent idea
• I think it’s a great idea and support this change.
• I definitely support the question being asked. It’s definitely been topical for the last 12 months and does have an impact on my practice and how I prepare my patients.
• I Agree with the amendment
• I would welcome a question about GLP-1 /Weight loss meds. Patients often “forget to mention “ these ! I do a lot of bariatric and plastic lists and am finding an increasing number of patients are on these meds.

2. Add – Preferred Name (Other Gender)

When “Other” is selected in the Gender question, we now include a field for “Preferred name (how would you like to be addressed)”

Why? Requested by a patient. We do our best to have an inclusive and user-friendly preoperative assessment form and recognise some patients may have a preferred name that differs from their legal name.

3. Update – Medications Upload Question

Change the upload medication feature to be optional. This box is triggered when a patient mentions they would like to upload a photo or document showing their medication.

Why? Requested by a patient

4. Update – Save Continue Link Expiry

Increasing the timeframe for using a saved form from 48 to 72 hours.
Improve the “Click here to return to your form now” button so that patients can easily return to complete their preoperative assessment form.

Why? Requested by patients

5. Update – Save Continue Button

Update the Save and Continue button to look more like a button.

Why? Style improvements

6. Update – Timeout Expiry

All online forms are designed to timeout after inactivity. Our timeout period has been updated to 5 minutes, which we feel is a good compromise between user experience and privacy.

Why? Requested by patients who ‘felt a bit pressured to quickly answer before timeout’

Your feedback

As always, we welcome your ideas on how to improve our preoperative assessment form for both you and your patients. If you have any feedback or ideas for improvement, please share them with us.

Interested in joining? Try our Demo preoperative assessment form here.

For Premium Plan members with customised forms, we’re happy to incorporate this new functionality into your existing forms upon request. Simply contact us by email, and we’ll implement these changes for you.

At Anaesthetic Group we are dedicated to optimising our anaesthetic service for you, our valued Anaesthetist members. We look forward to hearing your ideas on what we can do to make our preoperative assessment form better in 2025.