Decoding preoperative workload: a traffic-light framework to quantify clinic complexity beyond the American Society of Anesthesiologists

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Background: Traditional perioperative metrics such as the ASA physical status (PS) classification describe physiological risk but fail to capture the cognitive, administrative, and coordination workload within preoperative assessment clinics. Tasks such as arranging specialist referrals, coordinating investigations, and multidisciplinary discussions represent substantial ‘invisible’ work that is not reflected in conventional reporting. We aimed to develop a simple, reproducible framework to categorise clinic complexity and support equitable job planning.