surgical cover
Last reviewed 01/2018
Part of the duties of a surgical house officer are to cover the colleagues patients when they are off duty. This will involve aspects of their routine management, such as the resiting of intravenous access and replenishing of epidural infusions, and changes in the management due to new problems arising.
It is rare for the new problems to be hugely challenging; where they are, it is advisable to contact senior staff early.
Generally speaking, new problems in surgery are complications of the surgery, and they include all of the normal postoperative management problems.