The NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery


Improving surgical outcomes through collaborative research

Perioperative care is an umbrella term that includes every stage of a patient’s journey from the time they are identified for an operation, to the time they are discharged from hospital. The GSU currently runs various trials, including PENGUIN, PROTECT Surg and GIRAFFE’. Further information on each individual trial and how they are helping to improve healthcare quality on an international scale can be found by clicking on the study links below.

Perioperative Care Research

Project Penguin

PENGUIN TRIAL

The PENGUIN trial is a 2 x 2 factorial, international pragmatic randomised trial. The trial aims to assess whether preoperative chlorhexidine mouthwash when compared to no-mouthwash-surgery can reduce incidence of post-operative pneumonia (POP) and whether perioperative liberal oxygen versus restrictive oxygen can reduce incidence surgical site infections (SSI) at 30-days among abdominal surgery patients.

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Studies- GSU - Giraffe

GIRAFFE STUDY

GIRAFFE (a patient-blinded, international, multicentre, cluster-sequence, randomised controlled study) uses an on-line education/training tool to improve in-theatre performance and perioperative care of patients undergoing emergency laparotomy and thereby seek to reduce postoperative hospital deaths.

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" Bringing together surgeons, researchers and policy makers to set the local research agenda according to patient need in LMIC and ensuring all patients have the opportunity to take part in our research. "