Pre- and Post-Surgery Information

Steps for You to Follow Before Your Surgery

1. A pre-admission nurse will call you 3-7 days before your surgery to complete a pre-operative questionnaire and answer any of your questions.
2. A nurse will call you again the afternoon before your surgery between 2:00 PM and 5:30 PM to tell you the approximate time of your surgery and what time you should arrive at the CARES Surgicenter.
3. Please do not eat or drink anything, including water, after midnight the night before your surgery UNLESS TOLD TO DO SO BY THE PRE-ADMISSION NURSE.
4. Please STOP taking multi-vitamins, Vitamin-E, and herbal supplements one week prior to surgery.
5. Make a list of the medications that you currently take and a list of medication allergies. Please bring the lists with you on the day of surgery.
6. If you are having any form of anesthesia, other than local anesthesia, you must make plans to have a responsible adult drive you home after your procedure.
7. We suggest that you do not smoke for at least 24 hours before your surgery.
8. If you are having pre-admission testing done prior to surgery and anesthesia, please check with your insurance carrier for the locations of authorized laboratories. Use of a non-authorized laboratory may result in additional costs to you.
9. If you have a living will, please bring a copy with you on the day of surgery.
10. If you need special assistance, are not fluent in English, or require a sign language interpreter, please let the pre-admission nurse know, so arrangements can be made to assist you.
11. If you will be needing crutches, podiatric shoe or other similar devices on discharge from the center, these will incur an additional expense. To avoid this charge, you may bring your own for use at discharge.

On the Day of Surgery

1. Before leaving home, shower and wash your hair, and remove nail polish from at least one finger. Also, do not wear heavy make-up. The skin and nails provide important signs of circulation.
2. Bring your medication list along with the medications you normally take during the day. Take your morning medications with a sip of water, if instructed by your doctor or CARES nurse.
3. The center cannot be responsible for lost items, so leave valuables such as jewelry or large sums of cash at home. Children may bring a favorite toy or blanket.
4. Loose and comfortable clothing are best to wear the day of your surgery.
5. Please arrive at the specified time and sign-in at the registration desk. Please bring a photo ID and insurance card. Your insurance carrier may require a co-pay to be paid at this time. Check or credit card payments are acceptable.
6. Parking is free in the CARES parking lot.
7. Up to two family members may go with you to the pre-op waiting area. During your procedure they should wait in the reception area. Your surgeon will speak with them after surgery.
8. Each member of our staff involved in your care will confirm with you the planned procedure. The operative site may be marked with the words YES by your doctor or nurse.
9. In the recovery room the nurses will ask you to rank your pain on a scale of zero (for no pain) to ten for the worst pain. The number you give will help the nurse treat your pain appropriately.
10. Prior to discharge you will be given written postoperative instructions. It is important that you understand the instructions. The nurses will answer any questions that you have. 

 
Please note that your wait time prior to surgery may be over an hour. Anticipate 30-45 minutes to recover from sedation anesthesia and 90-120 minutes for general anesthesia.
 
After Your Surgery
To continually improve the services at Cares Surgicenter we rely on patient feedback. A short time after your discharge, you will receive an email inviting you to complete a questionnaire. If you do not have an email address, you will be given a questionnaire to complete the day of your procedure to be returned to the us.

Following your procedure, you can simply click here and complete the questionnaire online!