Survey of attitudes of nurses and junior doctors to co-management of high risk surgical patients

Managing post-operative surgical patients can be complex, with many patients at risk of complications and mortality. We piloted a model for co-management of high risk surgical patients: the post-operative surveillance team (POST). We conducted a survey to test the proposition that POST would be popular with nurses and junior doctors. We conducted a questionnaire survey of nurses and doctors involved with the POST programme. Fifty-three nurses and 10 doctors responded to the survey: 60 response rate. Of 63 respondents: 62 (98 ; 95 CI: 92-100 ) agreed that POST was valuable, 61 (97 ; 95 CI: 89-99 ) agreed that POST should continue, and 61 (97 ; 95 CI: 89-99 ) agreed that they enjoyed working with POST. In open ended responses 39 commented that POST provided supervision, mentoring, education, or collaboration. We conclude that POST was popular with surgical ward nurses and doctors. This popularity is one factor supporting a permanent service.