Advisory Medicine

The increase in life expectancy and the progressive aging of the population, together with the development of more advanced surgical and anesthetic procedures, has led to older patients with a significant burden of comorbidity being subjected to an intervention. surgical with increasing frequency. The lower functional reserve of these patients, added to surgical stress, translates into an increased risk of complications and prolonged stays, a problem that far from being reduced is estimated to increase in the coming years.

That is why that more and more frequently, medical specialists are required by surgical specialists not only for preoperative evaluation but to give a quick response to the various complications that may appear in the postoperative evolutionary course. The way in which medical and surgical services are organized to respond to this demand forms the basis of so-called perioperative medicine. Its ultimate purpose is to ensure that the patient reaches the moment of the intervention in the best possible conditions and that once the surgical act has been carried out, the complications developed are minimal.

The reasons why a medical specialist can being consulted during their hospital activity are as wide as the spectrum of diseases, but in the perioperative period, there are some basic aspects of mandatory knowledge that every specialist must know how to deal with with the maximum guarantees of quality.

With the objective of responding to the knowledge necessary to successfully face these tasks, specialists from the La Fe University and Polytechnic Hospital of Valencia (Spain) belonging to the Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Nutrition services and the Infectious Diseases Unit, grouped in the Clinical Area Medical, have developed the idea of creating a Manual of Consultative Medicine that addresses in a practical way, the different s aspects for which a specialist can be consulted in the field of hospital activity, emphasizing the perioperative period, as this is the main reason for hospital consultation.

We started this project in app format because our The intention is that it is a dynamic and updated support with the latest scientific evidence and only the immediacy that this medium confers will allow us to achieve these objectives. The content of the app is divided into chapters that we will gradually expand in subsequent updates and which can be accessed from the index or from a keyword search engine on the main page of the application. Changes in scientific knowledge will be transferred to the application in the form of periodic updates that, without losing the practicality, we hope that they will turn it into a true useful tool on a daily basis (point-of-care).

The application has other functionalities such as the ability to save favorite chapters for quicker access, take notes on each chapter or download it in PDF format to print or save it. Also, there is a direct communication channel with the authors and developers of the app, in email format. From here we encourage future readers to send questions, criticisms or suggestions to follow in future updates.

We thank the entire team of authors and developers who have participated in the development of this application for their commendable effort. On behalf of everyone, we fervently wish future users to find quick, effective and necessary help to clarify the diagnostic or therapeutic guidelines to be followed in each of the aspects treated. If we achieve this goal, we will feel that our effort has been worth it.

The Editorial Committee