Your Guide to Surgery

Preparing for Your Surgery

Depending on your health history, you may need to have tests done before the day of your surgery. You may receive these tests at a diagnostic lab near you, or be assigned an appointment at our Pre-Admission Testing Center across the street from the hospital at 120 Dudley Street. You may also be reached by phone for your appointment.

Download the Women & Infants' We Welcome You Surgical Guide

Download the English PDF
Download the Spanish PDF

The Days Before Surgery

• Let your doctor know if you have a cough, cold, fever, stomach flu, or asthma attack during the week before your surgery. Call your doctor as soon as the symptoms occur, as this may interfere with your surgery.
• Discuss ALL medications with your doctor or nurse, including birth control, vitamins, herbs, and other over-the-counter medications. You will not be able to take aspirin or aspirin-like products before surgery. Your doctor will tell you which of your regular medications you can take before your surgery.
• Arrange for a ride home and for an adult to stay with you for 24 hours after your surgery. You will be having anesthesia, and it is not safe for you to drive home.
• Please be sure to have all jewelry items removed (including tight fitting items) prior to the day of surgery.

The Night Before Surgery

• Do not smoke. Please stop 48 hours before your surgery.
• Follow the instructions your doctor gives you to prepare for surgery. Call your doctor if you have any questions.

The Day of Surgery

• It is important that your stomach is empty. You may brush your teeth or use mouthwash, but do not swallow.
• If your doctor or anesthesiologist told you to take your daily medications on the morning of surgery, take them with a small sip of water.
• Dress in comfortable, loose-fitting clothes, and wear shoes without heels.
• Remove fingernail polish and make-up. Do not wear any body lotion.
• If you wear contact lenses, leave them at home. Wear or bring your eyeglasses and case with you. Please give these items to your family member for safe keeping. If no one is with you, please write your name on the case.
• Bring your health insurance cards and any advance directives (Living Will or Durable Power of Attorney). If you need the forms, please ask in admitting.
• Provide the admitting staff with the name and telephone number of the support person you would like us to contact after surgery.

When To Arrive

Plan to arrive 90 minutes before your scheduled operation so that we have enough time to prepare you for surgery. Please understand that our surgery schedule sometimes changes because of the unexpected needs of other patients. You may want to bring something to read while you wait.

What to Bring

If you are going to be admitted to the hospital after surgery, Women & Infants will provide hospital gowns for your use. You may want to bring personal toiletry items, such as:

• Toothbrush/toothpaste
• Shampoo
• Soap
• Nightgown
• Robe
• Slippers
• Shower shoes

If there are other items that are important to your cultural, religious, or spiritual beliefs, please speak with your nurse to be sure these items are appropriate to have in the hospital. Please arrange to have someone bring these items to you after surgery.

NOTE: Please leave jewelry and valuables at home. The hospital will not be responsible for lost valuables, including dentures and eyeglasses. Cell phones and personal electronics are the responsibility of the patient for the duration of their stay.

Patients are not allowed to bring most portable electric appliances – heating or cooking devices, electric fans, and coffee pots – to the hospital. Please make your nurse aware of your cultural, spiritual, or religious beliefs that require the use of otherwise prohibited electronic devices.

Checking In

When you arrive at the hospital, check in with the receptionist in the main lobby and they will provide you and your support person with access badges and will direct you to the registration area.

After you register, please check in with the secretary in the Ambulatory Surgical area and make yourself comfortable in our waiting area. You will be taken to a private area to get ready for surgery. You will then be given a hospital gown, and a member of the anesthesia team will start an IV to give you fluids and medications.

Two support people may stay with you until you are brought to the operating room. Once you have changed into the hospital gown and are ready for surgery, the nurse will call that person or persons in from the waiting area. Your support people are asked to wait in the main lobby or Remondi Resource Center on level 1 during your surgery so your doctor can speak with them after your surgery.

Family Liaison

When your family members come to the main lobby to wait during your surgery, they are asked to check in with the hospital’s family liaison so they can receive updates, ask any questions they might have, and so your doctor can locate your family after your surgery.

Patient and Family Experience Department

We care about your experience here at Women & Infants Hospital. Our director of patient and family centered care is here to assist you and your family if you have any questions, concerns, complaints, or if you would like to tell us about someone who made your experience special. Let us know if we are not meeting your expectations, and we will work hard to remedy the situation. You can reach the Patient Feedback Line at (401) 274-1122, ext. 44287 (English) or ext. 44289 (Spanish).

After Surgery

You will be brought to the recovery room after surgery. A recovery room nurse will care for and monitor you. The nurses will keep you as comfortable as possible.

If You Are Going Home the Day of Surgery

Before you leave, your nurse will go over post-operative instructions with you and your family. If you have any questions at home, please call your doctor’s office. All patients are discharged by wheelchair through the main lobby. The person who drives you home may pick you up there. That person should check at the reception desk if you are not waiting in the main lobby.

If You Are Being Admitted to the Hospital

You will stay in the recovery room until you are ready to go to your room. Staff will make sure your belongings are taken to your room, or your family can bring them home. Please notify your nurse if you have any dietary restrictions or other concerns regarding your cultural, religious or spiritual beliefs.

Visitor Information

Your family and friends can visit you once you are in your room. They can get your room number at the reception desk in the main lobby or from the family liaison. We encourage visits from family and friends of your choosing, but our primary concern is that you get the care and rest you need to recover. Visitors may come between the hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. We encourage you to only have visitors who can help you to relax and rest.

To help keep our patients healthy, please ask your visitors to stay home if they have any symptoms of a cold or diarrhea, or have recently been exposed to chicken pox, measles, mumps, rubella, or the flu.

Ask your visitors to wash their hands—with soap and water and use alcohol-based hand gel—before touching you.

Overnight Visitors

If a family member or friend wants to spend the night, the chair in your room reclines. Nurses can provide blankets and pillows, but not toiletries. Your nurse can direct your family member or friend to designated showers and toilets; the showers in the rooms are for patient use only.

Download the Women & Infants' Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Guide

Download the English PDF
Download the Spanish PDF

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS)

Enhanced recovery is a set of instructions that you and your care team will follow to help improve your experience before, during, and after surgery. It helps you to recover sooner so life can return to normal as quickly as possible.

Why do we use ERAS?

ERAS is proven to speed up recovery and lower the chance of problems after surgery.

What are the main parts of ERAS?

1. Preparing for surgery
   - Your doctors will make sure you are healthy enough for surgery.
   - You will be given plenty of information from your care team so you feel ready for surgery.
   
   
2. Reducing the physical stress of the operation
   - You will be allowed to drink certain liquids up to two hours before your surgery.
   - Your care team will make sure you stay warm, hydrated, and safe.
   
   
3. Relieving symptoms effectively
   - We will give you a combination of medicines to help keep you comfortable while minimizing side effects.
   - We may ask you to take certain medications before surgery to help prevent pain and nausea.
   
   
4. Ensuring a healthy recovery
   - You will be encouraged to eat, drink, and walk around as soon as you can after surgery.
   - Your care team will help to make your recovery as smooth as possible.

What can you do to help?

It is important that you know what to expect before, during, and after your surgery. Your care team will work closely with you to plan your treatment. In addition, read these instructions carefully and follow them closely. Be sure to ask questions if you have any. It is important for you to participate in your recovery and to follow the advice of your care team. By working together, we hope to make your recovery as easy as possible.

What are the specific instructions you should follow?

On the next page you will find instructions for how to make ERAS a successful part of your care. Remember, your doctor will provide other instructions that are specific to your surgery. If you have questions about what to do, be sure to ask.

Instructions for ERAS

Food and Drink: ERAS has changed the rules about eating and drinking before surgery!

• You may eat light snacks (nothing heavy or fatty) until six hours before your scheduled surgery time but nothing after that.
  Example: If your surgery is scheduled fir noon, you may eat a light breakfast at 5:30 a.m. but no food after 6 a.m.
• You may drink clear liquids (drinks you can see through) until two hours before your scheduled surgery time but nothing after that.
  Examples of clear liquids:
  
  • Water (sparkling or regular)
  • Juice without pulp (apple or cranberry)*
  • Fat free broth or bouillion
  • Black coffee or black tea* (without milk or cream)
  • Sports drinks like Gatorade or Powerade*
• *If you are diabetic be sure to choose drinks with fewer than 5 gm carbohydrates per serving (like “diet” juices, unsweetened tea/coffee, or sugar free sports drinks).
• All patients (even diabetics) should drink 16 oz. of Gatorade two hours before your scheduled surgery time (but nothing after that).

Pain Medications: Pain control is a big part of a healthy recovery!

• Your doctor may ask you to take up to three different pain medications just before surgery. This helps to prevent the pain from even starting.
• Pain relief is best when we use several medications that attack the pain in different ways.
• Opiate medications have a lot of side effects so we try to control pain in other ways, first.

Nausea Medications: Controlling nausea will help you feel better sooner!

• Your doctor may have you place a small patch behind your ear before surgery to prevent nausea. Remember to let your nurse know if you put the patch on at home.
• Chewing gum can help to prevent nausea after surgery and is safe once you are awake.

Activity After Surgery: This is where we need your help!

• Walking and deep breathing exercises help to prevent dangerous problems after surgery.
• Most patients are able to walk within a few hours of surgery, and we will help you to do so.
• Eating your meals in a chair instead of in bed is safer and helps you remember to move around.
• If you wake up with a catheter in your bladder, your nurse will remove it as soon as it is safe, which is usually within a few hours of surgery.
• You will wake up with an IV which can be unplugged from the machine as soon as you are drinking liquids after surgery.