The anesthesia services bill is separate from the surgical and hospital fee. Your insurance company will be directly billed for our services (if procedure is covered by insurance). In some cases the patient will never see the bill for our…
Many studies done in the early 1990’s have shown that clear liquids empty rapidly from the stomach and need not be held for the usual eight hours prior to surgery. The current fluid and solid food policy is as follows:…
In house patients are commonly given a small dose of sedative prior to transport to the operating room suites, if appropriate. Outpatients or same day admission surgery patients can be given small intravenous doses of sedation in the preoperative area.…
An intravenous line is placed prior to surgery in all patients who receive anesthesia. The line is used during surgery to administer medications and fluids. The skin is numbed prior to placement to minimize discomfort.
Given the possibility of infectious transmission (hepatitis, AIDS, etc), blood products are given only if absolutely necessary. The decision to give blood is determined by many factors. A young healthy person is able to tolerate anemia (decreased blood counts) better…
It is important to inform your surgeon of this preoperatively. At Riverside we have a special cart stocked with latex free equipment. One important item is latex free surgical gloves. Latex allergy would be suggested by allergic symptoms (runny nose,…
The awakening process begins when the gases are discontinued at the conclusion of surgery. The time to full arousal will depend in part on the length of the procedure. Most patients can follow commands within 10 minutes and are fairly…
Patients become very drowsy under sedation and unconscious under general anesthesia. We never hear any sensitive information revealed.
Under general anesthesia we are guided by careful monitoring of your vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate. Increases in the preceding signs would indicate light anesthesia and the dose would be increased. The careful balance…
The final choices would be a function of the procedure done. For example, a wrist fusion requiring hip bone graft would be best done under general anesthesia. Here is a list of the common techniques Monitored Anesthesia Care (MAC). This…