Urgent Pre‑Operative Care: Rapid Assessment Protocols for Urgent Surgery

Adrian Mustain
Dec 8, 2025
3 min read

Updated: Dec 10, 2025

Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes

Urgent pre‑operative care demands specialized protocols that maintain clinical rigor while accelerating decision‑making timelines. Traditional pre‑operative clearance processes designed for elective procedures often create delays when patients need immediate surgical intervention.

MyPreOp’s urgent assessment protocols show how systematic evaluation can compress timelines without compromising patient safety.

Over 80% of our cases are urgent, defined as surgery within 30 days.
In urgent cases, 68.8% receive same‑day or next‑day appointments, and 44.8% are cleared within 48 hours of the visit.
Across all cases, the average referral to visit is 3 days, and the average visit to clearance is 5 days.
For urgent cases, those averages are 1.6 days and 4.1 days.

What You Will Learn

The Critical Challenge of Urgent Preoperative Assessment
Rapid Assessment Algorithm Framework (with time‑boxed phases)
Time‑Critical Risk Stratification Methods (airway, respiratory, cardiac, metabolic)
MyPreOp’s Urgent Protocol Advantages (how virtual consults compress timelines)
Laboratory and Diagnostic Prioritization (tests that change immediate management)
Risk Mitigation in Time‑Pressured Environments
Technology Integration for Rapid Assessment
Special Populations in Urgent Surgery
MyPreOp’s Urgent Care Excellence

The Critical Challenge of Urgent Pre‑Operative Assessment

Urgent surgical cases compress what normally takes weeks into days while maintaining the same safety requirements. These are patients who need surgery within 7 to 10 days to prevent significant deterioration, such as fractures that won't heal properly if delayed, or conditions that could worsen without timely surgical intervention.

Rapid Assessment Algorithm Framework

Use this time‑boxed framework to structure urgent intake, risk checks, and documentation; adapt to your facility's resources and surgical scheduling constraints.

Urgent protocols use decision trees to move quickly through high‑yield steps while maintaining clinical thoroughness. Tools like ASA class and RCRI can be applied efficiently when information is available.

MyPreOp’s Urgent Protocol Advantages

For urgent cases, same-day or next-day evaluations are common, and clearance is often completed within 48 hours of the visit when essential tests are available. Board‑certified physicians specializing in pre‑operative medicine provide focused expertise without traditional scheduling constraints.

This side‑by‑side comparison shows how a virtual pre‑op specialist model can compress steps while maintaining clinical thoroughness:

Laboratory and Diagnostic Prioritization

Technology Integration for Rapid Assessment

EHR integration accelerates access to prior records and reduces duplication. Secure virtual consults enable subspecialist input within days when local experts have scheduling constraints. Automated risk scoring can help triage cases when comprehensive data are available.

MyPreOp's virtual platform enables rapid physician consultation without geographic or scheduling barriers, particularly valuable for patients in areas with limited local specialist availability.

Special Populations in Urgent Surgery

These populations require modified assessment approaches under time pressure. Focus on factors that change immediate surgical decisions or perioperative management:

MyPreOp’s Urgent Care Excellence

MyPreOp demonstrates that urgent pre‑operative care can maintain clinical excellence while meeting compressed surgical timelines that would be impossible through traditional primary care channels.

Performance data for urgent cases (surgery within 30 days):

In urgent cases, 68.8% receive same‑day or next‑day appointments, and 44.8% are cleared within 48 hours of the visit.
Across all cases, the average referral to visit is 3 days, and the average visit to clearance is 5 days.

Over 80% of our cases are urgent, defined as surgery within 30 days. Founded by board‑certified physicians Dr. Shamim Shakibai and Dr. Joshua Lewis, MyPreOp combines clinical expertise with rapid coordination to support time‑critical surgical decisions.

Contact MyPreOp at (424) 224‑9151 or email contact@mypreop.org to learn how our rapid assessment protocols can improve urgent surgical readiness.