Information for Patients: Preparing for Anesthesia and Surgery

Preoperative Holding Area

Some facilities have combined admission-discharge areas; some are separated by phase of care. However arranged, there is a nurse responsible for your care at all times. You’ll be escorted to a changing area and will be asked to remove all clothing and jewelry and a hospital gown will be given to you. 

You may then sit in a recliner or wait on a stretcher. A nurse will interview you and do a nursing assessment, answer any questions and provide any teaching you will need at this time. Facility personnel should secure your belongings for safekeeping. You’ll be asked to empty your bladder if you haven’t already. An intravenous line may be started.

Sometimes an unavoidable delay occurs when a hospital emergency case is put ahead of yours or a patient before you has surgery longer than planned. It’s never easy to wait, so try to distract yourself by reading, watching television or using relaxation techniques. Your understanding will always be appreciated when there’s a delay.

An anesthesia doctor or team [nurse anesthetist and doctor] will interview you and plan your care with you. You may or may not be given some intravenous sedation to relax you in the holding area. You may walk or may be taken by stretcher into the operating room. Once in the operating room your anesthetist will not leave you for any reason, you will be monitored constantly throughout the operation.

• Pre-anesthetic Interview/Testing
• What to Expect on the Day of Surgery
• Preoperative Holding Area
• What to Expect in the Operating Room
• What to Expect in the Postanesthesia Care Unit
• Admission to a Facility
• Outpatient Surgery
• What to Expect if You Are Going Home on the Day of Surgery
• Pain Management