Your time at the surgery center

This is just a brief summary of some of the things that you and those who accompany you may expect after you are registered and during your stay at the surgery center.

Now that you are registered, you will wait in the reception area until the pre-op nurse comes and calls you for the pre-op area.  You will be escorted to this area to prepare for surgery.  The person accompanying you will wait in reception until you are ready.  If you wish to be alone or if surgery is immediate your family/responsible party may not see you until surgery is completed and you are in the recovery room.  Parents of minor children will accompany the patient to the pre-operative area must remain in the center during the entire peri-operative experience.

The nurse will escort you to the locker room where you will change into a gown.  You are to give any valuables to the person accompanying you.  The surgery center is not responsible for any lost articles.  Belonging bags are kept next to the gowns so that undergarments and any other articles of clothing may be placed in the bag and secured in the locker with the clothes.  Please give the locker key to the pre-op nurse and it will be placed with your medical record. 

During your stay in the pre-operative area you will be weighed, have your temperature taken and if you are receiving anesthesia have an IV started.  Some anesthetics are administered in this area during which time you will be monitored.  You will be seen by the surgical staff and an anesthesiologist.  Several people will confirm the procedure that you are having done and ask your name and birth date or the last four digits of your social security number.  This is to be sure that the proper procedure is being done for the correct patient.  You will be taken from the pre-operative area to the operating room and then directly to the recovery room.

Once you arrive in the recovery room, you will be admitted and assessed.  After you are awake two visitors may join you in this area, unless you, again, request not to have visitors.  The recovery room nurse will meet visitors in the reception area and escort them to the recovery room when you are ready.

Time spent in the recovery room depends on a number of factors including, the type of anesthesia, reaction to the anesthetic, the amount of pain experienced and your response to the entire surgical experience.  You will be discharged when the established criteria for discharge has been reached. Written discharge instructions will be reviewed with you prior to your release.  If a problem develops relating to the surgery, please call the physicians office.  If the office is closed the answering service will notify the physician on call.  If it is an emergency, please go to the nearest emergency room.

 While patients are in surgery

Family and/or friends will wait in the reception area while surgery is being performed.  If for any reason you leave the center, even to go to the car, please notify the receptionist. If you are leaving for any period of time, leave a phone number so that we may reach you immediately, if necessary.

The surgeon will speak with you after the completion of surgery.  Some surgeons will see you in the reception area while others will see you, along with the patient, in the recovery room.  We recommend that you remain in the surgery center for the entire surgical experience. If you choose to leave and the surgeon comes to see you prior to your return, there is no guarantee that you will speak with the physician before the patient is discharged. The length of time that you will wait depends on the surgeon’s operative schedule.  Please do not be alarmed if you do not see the patient as soon as the physician speaks with you.  Some patients wake up faster than others and you will not be permitted into the recovery area until the patient is awake and ready for visitors.  The nurse will be focusing attention on the patient at this time and will probably not speak with you until you are taken to the recovery room.   You will be present when the nurse reviews the discharge instructions and, if the patient has been sedated, you will be asked to sign them.

When the patient is ready for discharge the nurse will ask that you bring the car to the front of the building and the nurse will escort the patient to the car.  Patients may still be tired when discharged and need assistance for the first 24 hours at home. 

We, at the surgery center, hope that your surgical experience is as pleasant as possible.  Our goal is to provide the best possible care in the short time that you are with us.