Outpatient Pre-operative Information

Most elective surgeries are done on an outpatient basis. This means that you will be admitted to the facility at which the surgery or procedure will be performed at a specific time before the procedure, then leave after you have fully recovered. Typically your surgeon’s office or the surgical facility will advise you of your admission time.
Another critical piece of information of which you will be advised is when to begin fasting (NPO guidelines).

Inpatient Pre-operative Information

Inpatients are those who arrive at the hospital at a time assigned to them but remain at the facility after the procedure is completed In some cases inpatient surgery is performed during a hospital stay. The nurse taking care of these patients will be given strict orders which address NPO times.
For healthy people undergoing elective surgery, routine preoperative panels of tests are no longer recommended. Testing is now aimed at specific disease processes. Your surgeons office may request that you undergo certain tests which may include the following:

Depending on these results further work-up may be indicated. If there is a significant history of cardiac disease for example then more rigorous testing may be required. The surgical procedure to be performed may also dictate that certain tests are needed. It is critical that if you have undergone any tests that the results are either sent to your surgeon’s office, forwarded to the facility at which you will undergo your procedure or brought with you at the time of surgery.

Intra Operative Information

During this time, your vital signs are very closely monitored because medications which cause changes from your baseline physiology are given. You should feel assured that you are your anesthesiologist's sole focus during this process which is tailored and adjusted to your individual needs in terms of amounts and specific medications given.
At the end of the process you will be taken to the post-anesthesia care unit where once again you are closely monitored by the nursing staff until your physiological functions return to baseline.

Postoperative Information

Serious complications are extremely rare during an anesthetic. Expect to feel drowsy immediately afterwards. If your level of pain post-operatively requires that you take opioid medications such as demerol or morphine, then the drowsiness may persist. Nausea and vomiting are the most common side effects. There are several effective medications available to treat these symptoms. A sore throat can also occur but usually is self-limiting over the course of a few hours to one or two days. If you have experienced any side-effects previously, please remember to mention this.

Patient Feedback

In addition to gathering your comments from returned post cards, the nursing care team contacts each patient after outpatient surgery because your satisfaction is critical to us. Your feedback is compiled and the results are used for quality assurance and quality improvement as well as for peer review.