Surgical Patients

Prepare Clinic for Surgical Patients

Before your operation, your surgeon's office will schedule an appointment for you at our Prepare Clinic to ensure your readiness for surgery and anesthesia. It's also a good time for you to ask any questions you may have.

Your Prepare Clinic appointment will last one to two hours and is usually scheduled two to seven days before your procedure. Please arrive 30 minutes early. The clinic is located in Room L-170 on the first floor of the Moffitt wing of the hospital. Before you arrive, please complete the Health History form. You may want to ask your regular doctor to help you.

Also, bring a complete list of your medications, including how and when you take them. Please do not bring your actual medications with you to the hospital unless directed to by your doctor. If you've had any heart tests such as a stress test or echocardiogram, lung tests such as a chest X-ray or pulmonary function, or blood vessel exams such as a carotid ultrasound, within the past two years, please bring copies of the test results with you. Also bring results from any blood tests done within the past three months.

Your Prepare Clinic evaluation will include:

• Blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, height and weight measurement
• A history and physical examination by an anesthesiologist or anesthesia nurse practitioner
• Education about anesthesia types and options
• Education about pain measurement and post-surgical pain control
• Possibly blood tests, electrocardiogram (ECG) or chest X-ray (CXR)
• An explanation of what will occur after surgery and a review of general pre-operative and post-operative instructions
• Instructions about eating and drinking before surgery

At the end of your Prepare Clinic visit, you will receive information about when and where to arrive for surgery. Please plan to arrive two hours prior to your procedure.

For more information, please call:

Surgical Patient's Day of Admission

If you are a surgical patient, please arrive at the hospital at the time indicated by your doctor's office or the Prepare Clinic. When you arrive, please go to the pre-operative waiting room in M-104J on the first floor of the hospital, unless you have been told otherwise.

• A receptionist in the pre-operative waiting room will greet you and let the surgical staff know you have arrived.

• A staff member will escort you to the pre-surgical area, where you will be assigned a comfortable gurney, asked to put on a hospital gown and be prepared for surgery. One friend or relative may wait with you until you are taken to surgery.

• If you would like to meet with a chaplain before your surgery, please call to make an appointment.

• A nurse will take your vital signs. The anesthesiologist will visit you to review the anesthesia and answer any questions you may have.

• If an epidural is used for anesthesia and pain management, it may be started at this time.

• Once the surgical team and the operating room is ready, you will be taken to the operating room and your friend or relative will be asked to return to the pre-operative waiting room.

• Your friend or relative may track your progress by asking the receptionist in the waiting room.

• After your surgery, you will be taken to the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU). The PACU provides post anesthesia or sedation care and can accommodate extended stay patients if needed. No visitors are allowed in this unit. You will go upstairs to your room when the doctors feel you are ready.

For more information, please call: