Trust is getting harder to earn in healthcare, yet it might be the most important thing. We continue our coverage of the 2026 APSF Stoelting Conference series starting with Thomas Lee, MD, asking the uncomfortable question most systems avoid: what are we producing with all this work in healthcare? His answer lands with force. The product is trust, built through patient experience, reliable teamwork, and the everyday choices that tell patients we are coordinated, prepared, and on their side.

We dig into what actually earns patient trust, including why patients respond when they can see teamwork in action, not just hear reassurance. We also explore social capital in healthcare, the practical value of norms, and why kindness is not “nice,” but a behavior that supports growth, strengthens psychological safety, and improves how teams function under stress. Along the way, we connect communication to outcomes, including how listening, clear explanations, and respect can align with measurable improvements in outcomes.

Then Colonel Stephen Coffey moderates a vital shift to no surgery without shared understanding. Professor Mike Grocott and surgeon Ron Charles, MD, push beyond paperwork to shared decision making, where consent is not the finish line and “what happens if I do nothing?” becomes a necessary option. We close by reframing success around recovery, quality of life, and patient-reported outcomes, especially for older adults facing incomplete recovery.

Subscribe for more anesthesia patient safety conversations, share this with a colleague, and leave a review if it helps your team build trust where it matters most.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/330-stoelting-conference-part-4/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

If your preop clinic feels overloaded, the answer might not be “work harder” it might be “triage smarter.” We share highlights from the 2026 APSF Stoelting Conference on how perioperative teams can match resources to risk, protect access for complex patients, and improve safety across the full surgical journey.

We dig into the Cleveland Clinic approach to risk stratification using readmission and mortality data, then translate it into real pathways: virtual preoperative evaluation for low risk patients, focused in-person assessment for high risk patients, and advanced care planning for the most vulnerable. The operational upside is real, too: telemedicine can lower cost per encounter, scale staffing without adding rooms, and free up time for the patients who truly need it.

From there, we fast forward to what happens after surgery, where post discharge care often determines whether patients recover smoothly or bounce back to the hospital. The data driven message is clear: earlier follow up for high risk patients can reduce mortality and readmissions. We also explore what a safer AI future requires, including the cognitive traps behind missed AI mistakes and a practical rule for calibration: treat AI like a junior teammate with strong training and no references or real world experience.

Finally, we challenge ourselves to treat patient experience as a vital sign, connect it to standardized perioperative outcomes, and consider how transparency efforts like Leapfrog safety grades can drive change. If you care about anesthesia patient safety, perioperative medicine, and trustworthy AI in healthcare, subscribe, share the episode with a colleague, and leave a review so more clinicians can find it.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/329-smarter-perioperative-triage/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

Welcome to the 2nd episode in our coverage of this year's APSF Stoelting Conference. Discharge feels like a win, but what if it’s only the handoff into the riskiest part of recovery? We challenge the OR to PACU to hospital discharge success mindset and zoom out to the full perioperative journey, where real anesthesia patient safety is measured by what patients can do once they’re back home
living their lives.

We share powerful ideas from the 2026 APSF Stoelting Conference, including a vision for frictionless surgical care that reduces the burden on patients and clinicians through earlier history capture, smarter coordination, and better post-discharge pathways for known patients who need urgent help. Then we get concrete about outcomes: high-risk surgical patients are safer when they’re seen within 14 days after discharge, but limited clinic resources make that hard to deliver consistently. AI-powered risk stratification and predictive analytics can help identify who truly needs that early follow-up to reduce readmissions and mortality.

We also explore patient-defined success, where an uneventful anesthetic and smooth PACU can still end in confusion, missed medications, fear of mobility, or a preventable fall at home. The 4Ms framework (what matters, medication, mind, mobility) gives us a practical lens for age-friendly perioperative care. On the front end, we look at how AI can support preop clinic workflows, from triage to medication instructions, while naming the real concern of de-skilling and the need for clinician upskilling.

If you find this useful, subscribe, share it with a colleague, and leave a review so more perioperative teams can build safer recoveries beyond discharge.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/328-discharge-is-not-the-finish-line-stoelting-conference-series-part-2/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation