Surgery at HSS: What to Expect
Undergoing a surgical procedure can be a stressful experience for many patients, but the professional staff at Hospital for Special Surgery is focused on providing you with every tool you’ll need to feel at ease with your upcoming procedure. The following is a helpful timeline to help you understand – and prepare for – each part of your experience at HSS.
If you have already scheduled a surgery, please visit our Preoperative Education page for additional information.
Before Your Surgery
When scheduling your procedure with your surgeon, make sure you obtain an estimate of how long you will be in the hospital. Depending on the type of surgery, you may go home the same day, or you might be admitted for longer. Make sure to plan accordingly, considering work schedules, holidays, and upcoming family plans.
- Clearance: If your surgery requires you to stay overnight in the hospital, you will be referred by your surgeon to an internist for clearance for surgery. If you have a history of medical problems – even if you are scheduled to go home the same day as the surgery – your surgeon will often advise you to obtain preoperative medical clearance. If you will be staying overnight at HSS and your own internist is on the staff at Hospital for Special Surgery and is available to see you after surgery, then your internist can provide this clearance, which includes a history and physical exam as well as laboratory tests. The clearance includes a history and physical examination as well as laboratory tests. If your particular medical condition requires it, other tests might be needed before surgery, such as an EKG or a chest X-ray; some patients need additional testing such as a cardiac stress test. Some patients may need to lose weight prior to surgery.
- Pain Medications: If you currently take prescription pain medications (such as opioids) or other controlled substances, you and your surgeon will discuss current usage and history. Your surgeon may refer you for a preoperative pain evaluation before clearing you for surgery.
- Autologous Blood Donation: Your surgeon will tell you if it is likely that you will need a blood transfusion during your hospital stay. If you need blood during or after surgery, you can donate your own blood for this purpose.
- Drug Interactions: You may be instructed by your surgeon and/or primary doctor to stop certain medications (such as strong blood thinners like Plavix or Coumadin) several days to a week before your surgery, depending on the medication. In addition, you may be instructed to take some of your medications the morning of surgery even though you won't be able to eat that morning. It is important for you to bring a list (or a bag of pill bottles) including all your medications to your medical clearance, including vitamins, over-the-counter medications, and supplements (a number of medications and supplements may interact with medications you might receive after surgery).
- What Should I Bring to the Hospital? Use this check list to guide you in your presurgical packing, as well as to learn what not to bring during your hospital stay.
The Day Before Surgery
The Call Center is open Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 6:30 pm. The day before your scheduled procedure, a nurse from HSS will call you between 1 pm and 6 pm with additional instructions and reminders. If you have not heard from us by 5 pm please call us at 212.606.1710.
You will be told when and where to come the next morning, and you will be reminded not to eat or drink anything after midnight. This does not apply to the medications that you have been instructed to take the morning of surgery with a small sip of water.
Reporting Your Progress
Before your surgery and during your recovery period, you will receive periodic questionnaires by email so that your healthcare team can understand and track your progress. Called Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), these standardized surveys usually take less than one minute to complete. PROMs are used to study how you feel about your health status in areas such as:
- pain
- mobility
- ability to perform daily tasks or specific activities
Learn more about PROMs
The Day of Surgery
On the day of your surgery, you will arrive generally three hours before your procedure is scheduled to begin.
Members of our Patient Liaison Services Team will greet you. They and hospital volunteers will be available to attend to caregivers or visitors who may accompany you, and answer their questions. Your friends or loved ones may wait in one of our Family Atria, which are located on each of our surgical and procedure floors.
If you are delayed or have questions the morning of your surgery, feel free to contact our Call Center at 212.606.1710, Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 6:30 pm.
The “Holding Area”
You will be escorted to the preoperative “Holding Area” to be prepared for surgery. A locker will be provided for your belongings, but please leave any valuables at home. This includes all jewelry, as you will be asked to remove everything before entering the operating room. You will be asked to change into a hospital gown and assigned a bed in the Holding Area. Your family can be with you during this time. A nurse will start an intravenous line (commonly referred to as an ‘IV’) to give you fluids, and if you are a woman of childbearing age, you will be asked to provide a urine specimen for a pregnancy test.
The Preoperative Exam
A physician’s assistant will take your history and perform a physical exam. The main purpose of this examination is to see if anything has changed since you last saw your medical or surgical physicians. You will be asked to confirm what type of surgery you are having and will be asked to sign consent for that surgery if you have not already done so. Your surgeon or one of his or her assisting physicians will come to speak to you and to sign your surgical site. This is simply a safeguard to confirm where on your body the surgery will be performed. At this time, you will also meet your anesthesiologist who will discuss what type of anesthesia you will receive.
Anesthesia
Your surgery can be performed under two major types of anesthesia: general or regional anesthesia.
- General anesthesia involves being put to sleep with medications that are given to you through your intravenous line. Once you are completely asleep, a breathing tube is placed in your windpipe and your breathing will be assisted with a ventilator. You will remain asleep and comfortable until the surgery is complete, at which time you will start breathing on your own, the tube in your windpipe will be removed, and you will awaken comfortably in the operating room.
- Regional anesthesia for surgery involves an injection that will numb the nerves going to the area involved in your procedure. You will be comfortably sedated before the injection, and depending on your preference, can be either lightly or heavily sedated for the surgery. More than 90% of the surgeries at HSS are performed under regional anesthesia. When you receive this type of anesthesia, you will feel no pain during the surgery. As a result, you will need to receive less sedative and pain medication, which will make your recovery faster and you will feel more comfortable and have less side effects such as sleepiness and nausea. In addition, the anesthesia will last for several hours after the procedure, significantly reducing your pain and smoothing the transition to oral pain medications.
If your recovery is expected to require several days in the hospital, your anesthesiologist will choose one of two options to control your pain after surgery. He or she may elect to place a tiny plastic catheter at the site of the injection. This will allow you to receive a continuous infusion of pain medication after the surgery and will make your recovery much more comfortable. The other option is called intravenous patient-controlled analgesia, or PCA. This is a button that you can push to administer a small dose of intravenous pain medication every ten minutes as needed.
Learn more about What to Expect from Surgical Anesthesia
The Operating Room and Recovery
After your consultation with the anesthesiologist, you will be taken to the operating room by a nurse. Once there, your anesthesiologist will put on standard monitors, such as a blood pressure cuff and EKG leads, and will begin giving you sedative medication. One of the forms of anesthesia discussed above will be administered, and the surgery will begin. An anesthesiologist will be with you the entire time. When the surgery is complete, your surgeon will speak with your family and you will be taken to the recovery room.
If you are discharged the same day as your procedure, you will receive a call at home from one of our registered nurses the following day. They will inquire about your comfort and remind you of your discharge instructions.
About Your Recovery
In the recovery room, you will fully awaken from the sedation and will eventually be given ice chips followed by small sips of water. Your doctor or someone from his /her team will come by and speak with you about the surgery and follow-up plan.
If you will be going home that same day, you will receive detailed instructions for taking care of yourself at home and a prescription for pain medication. If you will be staying in the hospital for a few days, you will be assigned a room and will go there later that day or early the next morning. While still in the recovery room, your pain will be controlled with the infusion catheter, the PCA, or oral pain medications.
- Physical Therapy: The recovery process will be an active one. You will likely be seen by a physical therapist within 24 hours of your surgery. This is an important part of your recovery that will allow you to get back to your normal activities as soon as possible.
- Medical consultant: The internist who saw you before your surgery will see you while you are in the hospital and will be available to address medical issues when needed. The internist will use his/her judgment as to how often to visit you based on the nature of your surgery as well as your medical history. If you have a question appropriate for the medical consultant, you can either call him/her directly, or you can ask your nurse to contact the consultant for you.
You will be discharged within 48 hours and likely given a prescription for pain medication, a prescription for physical therapy, and a follow-up appointment with your surgeon.
Reporting Your Progress
Before your surgery and during your recovery period, you will receive periodic questionnaires by email so that your healthcare team can understand and track your progress. Called Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), these standardized surveys usually take less than one minute to complete. PROMs are used to study how you feel about your health status in areas such as:
- pain
- mobility
- ability to perform daily tasks or specific activities
Learn more about PROMs
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