Surgical Admissions and Family Waiting
Bring your "Patient Education Booklet" with you to the
hospital as it will be used to help discuss discharge
instructions.
Wear comfortable clothing to the hospital. Please do not
wear fingernail polish or makeup, especially eye makeup which
may cause irritation during surgery. Please leave all valuables
at home, including jewelry, wigs, and contact lenses. The
hospital cannot be responsible for valuables.
Free parking is available in Durham Regional Hospital's
Visitor's parking lots located near the front entrance.
Once you enter the front door to the hospital, have all but
one of the people with you wait in the main lobby until your
surgery is over. One family member or friend may accompany you
until you go to surgery.
As you will have already pre-registered when you were seen
by anesthesiology, you should go directly to the left side of
the main lobby (third level), at the very back where you will
find the receptionist desk for same day admission surgery.
Check in with the receptionist.
When it is time for you to get ready for surgery, she will
call for you and escort you to your bed in the preoperative
area. In this area you will put on a hospital gown, have and IV
started, and receive any medications ordered by your surgeon.
When in the preoperative area you can request medications to
help with any anxiety, however the anesthesiologist will
carefully evaluate you to be sure some sedation is safe based
on your cardiac and pulmonary function.
When it is time for you to go into the operating room, all
family and friends should wait in the waiting room on the third
floor just inside the main entrance.
Surgery usually takes between two and four hours. The
surgeons will not contact your family during the operation, but
will visit with them immediately upon completion of the
surgery. Let your family/friends know there is a cafeteria and
snack room on the first floor.
Recovery Room
When your surgery is finished, you will be moved to the
recovery room where you will wake up (if you have any
respiratory or cardiac problems, you may be transferred to the
intensive care unit instead). The nursing staff will be testing
your breathing, blood pressure and pain control. It is
important for you to be able to communicate how much pain you
are having. We use a pain scale to communicate pain:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
No Pain Moderate Pain Very Severe Pain
It will be helpful to give a number on this scale when you
describe your pain to the nursing staff. If you do not feel
comfortable using this scale, you may describe your pain with
this verbal scale:
No Pain
Mild Pain
Moderate Pain
Severe Pain
Very Severe Pain
Patient Manual Index
