Post-Surgical Care

Post-Surgical Care. The management of post-surgical care is the responsibility of the operating physician. The operating physician should provide those aspects of post-surgical care which are within the unique competence of the physician. Patients are best served by having post- surgical care conducted by the physician who best knows their condition--the operating physician. Where the operating physician cannot personally provide post-surgical care, the physician must arrange before surgery for post-surgical care to be performed by another qualified physician who is acceptable to the patient. In this case, the operating physician may delegate discretionary post- operative activities to a qualified licensed physician. Like the operating physician, the physician to whom a patient has been referred for post-surgical care should provide, at a minimum, those aspects of post-surgical care that are not delegable. Unless otherwise provided by law, delegation of post-surgical activities to an auxiliary is permitted only if the auxiliary is under the supervision of the operating physician or the physician to whom the operating physician has referred a patient for post-surgical care. While an auxiliary may be authorized by law to provide certain aspects of post-surgical care, this does not relieve the operating physician of his or her responsibility to provide post-surgical care or arrange for the delegation of post-surgical care, when appropriate, as required by this rule. Those aspects of post-surgical care which may be delegated to an auxiliary must be determined on a case-by-case basis, but shall be limited to those procedures which the auxiliary is authorized by law to perform and within the unique competence and training of the auxiliary.