Systems of Care Delivery and Optimization in the Postoperative Care Wards.

A third of all patients are at risk for a serious adverse event, including death, in the first month after undergoing a major surgery. Most of these events will occur within 24 hours of the operation but are unlikely to occur in the operating room or postanesthesia care unit. Most opioid-induced respiratory depression events in the postoperative period resulted in death (55%) or anoxic brain injury (22%). A future state of mature artificial intelligence and machine learning will improve situational awareness of acute clinical deterioration, minimize alert fatigue, and facilitate early intervention to minimize poor outcomes.