Preparing for Surgery

At Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, you will enter the hospital at the main entrance. Ample parking is available in the patient and visitor lot adjacent to the hospital.

 

On the day of your surgery, we ask you to arrive two hours prior to your scheduled surgery time, or as directed by your doctor. This will allow us plenty of time to process your registration materials and prepare you for surgery. You are welcome to bring a family member with you to provide assistance and companionship.

 

Once you have gone through the registration process, you and your family member will wait in the surgery waiting room. You will then be invited to the pre-operative area and your companion will be asked to remain in the waiting room until you are prepared for surgery. At that time they will join you in the pre-operative area until your surgeon is ready to operate. They will return to the waiting room until you are out of surgery and are in the recovery room.

 

Certain medications may alter the effectiveness of your anesthesia, or even make it dangerous to undergo surgery. Be certain to tell your doctor and the pre-operative nurse who takes your medical history about all medications (prescription and otherwise, legal or not) or herbs you have taken recently.

 

Please understand that YOU are our first priority in providing individualized care. Once you have been prepped for surgery, your family member may join you in the pre-operative area until you are taken into the operating room. In compliance with the HIPAA law, we protect the privacy of every patient coming out of surgery. Therefore, family and friends are not permitted into the PACU/Recovery Room. You will be reunited with your family as soon as you are ready to go home.

 

They are welcome to read and/or watch television in the surgery waiting room, or visit other areas of the hospital, such as the cafeteria and gift shop. We only ask that if they decide to leave the waiting room, they tell the volunteer where in the hospital they will be, or leave a cell phone number in the event the surgeon or nurse needs
to reach them.

 

Every patient reacts to anesthesia and surgery differently. It will take a while for the anesthesia to fully wear off, and for you to adapt to getting around with an "injury." It's a good idea to have someone who can help with meals, light cleaning and assist you in getting up and down as necessary. We will not discharge you without a responsible adult to accompany you home.