To operate or not to operate? That is the question - Free webinar

Overview

Take the opportunity to participate in a live webinar where experts discuss how to navigate the tricky process of deciding whether to offer surgery to patients with complex comorbidities.

Deciding whether surgery is the right choice for a patient with complex comorbidities is one of the most difficult parts of perioperative care. In this case-based webinar, a multidisciplinary panel of perioperative physicians, anaesthesia and intensive care specialists, and surgeons from different institutions will discuss a series of cases. Along the way they will show how different teams approach these decisions.

The panel will explore how to weigh up risk, when to delay surgery for optimisation, and how to have meaningful goals of care conversations with patients and families, even when time is short.

The session will be chaired by Dr Sheila Rahman, physician at Wollongong Hospital.

Speakers

Speaker 1: Dr Sean McManus

Dr Sean McManus is a senior specialist in the Departments of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at Mater Hospital, Brisbane, and a Graduate of the Chapter of Perioperative Medicine. He is Deputy Chair of the Chapter of Perioperative Medicine Board and interim Chair of its Advocacy and Policy Committee.

With over 25 years' experience in the Queensland healthcare sector, Sean began his career in rural general practice before qualifying as a specialist anaesthetist and then an intensive care physician. He sees perioperative medicine as a way to extend the lessons of the operating room across the whole surgical journey to improve patient outcomes.

He has served on ANZCA Council, convened the binational ANZCA Annual Scientific Meeting, and chaired the Queensland Regional Committee. He is a member of the ANZ Hip Fracture Registry Steering Committee.

Speaker 2: Dr Jamie Keck

Dr James Keck is a colorectal surgeon working in public & private practice in Melbourne. He is Head of Colorectal Surgery at St Vincent's Health in Melbourne and also Chair of the Senior Medical Staff. He is a member of the Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand and a past President of this Society. He has a strong interest in pelvic floor disorders including faecal incontinence and rectal prolapse, and works at the Mercy Hospital for Women. He formerly worked at the Royal Women's Hospital and has done voluntary work at the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service for 25 years. Outside of medicine he reads, listens to music, plays golf and bushwalks.

Speaker 3: Dr Telena Kerkham

Dr Telena Kerkham is a General and Perioperative Physician at the Launceston General Hospital in Tasmania, and is the Head of Unit for General Medicine. Dr Kerkham is a GChPOM supervisor and is currently undertaking a part-tine PhD in perioperative shared decision-making for high risk surgical patients. She is also the Deputy Chair of the RACP General and Acute Care Medicine Training Program Committee, and a Board Director and Perioperative Special Interest Group member with the Internal Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand.

Speaker 4: Dr Ross Hanrahan

Dr Ross Hanrahan is a specialist anaesthetist at The Canberra Hospital. He is dual-trained as a physician and an anaesthetist, and is a well-regarded perioperative clinician in the ACT. He brings both a medical and an anaesthetic perspective to the care of patients with complex comorbidities undergoing surgery.

Ross chaired the ACT Trainee Committee during his training. He has also contributed to the perioperative literature, including co-authoring a chapter on the role of SGLT-2 inhibitors in heart failure for Australasian Anaesthesia.

Join us on Thursday 22 October 2026, 7–8pm AEDT | 9–10pm NZDT.

All those registered will receive a link to the session recording.

If ANZCA is your CPD home, you may record one hour of CPD under Category 2: Knowledge and skills – learning sessions. Participants affiliated with other CPD homes are encouraged to check their individual CPD requirements.