Do Surgical Trainees Believe They Are Adequately Trained to Manage the Ageing Population? A UK Survey of Knowledge and Beliefs in Surgical Trainees

Increasing numbers of older patients are undergoing surgery. Older surgical patients are at a higher risk of perioperative complications and mortality. Multimorbidity, frailty, and physiological changes of ageing contribute to adverse outcomes. These complications are predominantly medical, rather than directly surgical. Guidelines recommend preoperative assessment of comorbidity, disability, and frailty in older patients undergoing surgery and closer perioperative collaboration between surgeons and geriatricians. We conducted a survey to assess knowledge and beliefs of surgical trainees toward common perioperative problems encountered in older surgical patients.