Welcome to the Pre-Operative Department (POD)
This leaflet tells you where about in the hospital the ward is. The Pre-Operative Department is a waiting area into which patients are admitted on the day they are scheduled to have their surgery. A Pre-Operative Assessment also occurs within the Pre-Operative Department.
Patients admitted into the Pre-Operative Department have already undergone a Preoperative Assessment and have been assessed to be physically fit to await their surgery in a non-ward area.
The reason for being asked to go to the Pre-Operative Department instead of a ward is because most wards have doctors’ rounds in the morning where patients ready for discharge are identified.
Until the patients on the ward are discharged there is not a ward bed available for the patients having surgery to go to. The Pre-Operative Department allows patients to be admitted and to be prepared for surgery prior to a bed being available on the ward. This in turn facilitates the operating lists to start on time and to ensure that the surgery time available is well used. Having a unit like the Pre-Operative Department helps more patients to receive their treatment promptly.
Patients are requested to report to the Pre-Operative Department reception desk at the time indicated on the admission letter.
The request to arrive at an early hour assists the nursing staff to prepare the patients who are to be first on the operating lists, to ensure that the patients are ready on time. All the patients should attend having had nothing to eat or drink as previously advised. Nursing staff may provide you with water up to two hours prior to your anticipated operation time if your wait is prolonged.
Some patients arriving at 7.00am will be asked to change later, nearer the time they are to go to theatre.
Most patients are asked to attend early to allow their surgical team and the anaesthetist to see them before the team commence operating.
The first patient on the operating list will normally be taken to the theatre at around 7.50am.
The length of time you may wait is decided by your position on the operating list. Your position on the list may change as the day progresses due to some surgical procedures taking longer than expected or where a patient is cancelled due to ill health on the day of surgery.
What happens after admission to the Pre-Operative Department?
Patients are prepared for their surgery, ready to go from the Pre-Operative Department directly into the anaesthetic room.
Patients will be seen by their respective consultant of a member of their consultant’s surgical team and where required they will also be seen by an anaesthetist.
When seeing your surgical/anaesthetic team you are encouraged to ask any additional questions you may gave about the surgery or anaesthetic.
The nursing staff will ask you to change into a gown, record baseline observations such as blood pressure, pulse rate and temperature. You may require additional blood tests, or investigations prior to theatre.
The nurses will prepare patients for theatre according to their position on the operating list. There is a large number of operating theatres running at the same time and the Pre-Operative Department can be a very busy area especially between 7.00am and 9.00am.
When the theatre team is ready to commence your surgery, a member of the theatre team will come to the Pre-Operative Department and escort you to the theatre.
After the Pre-Operative checks you will be walked to the anaesthetic room where you will meet your anaesthetist again.
The Pre-Operative Department is a small area and as such we cannot accommodate any friends or relatives. Any accompanying person will need to say goodbye in the reception area.
The leaflet then goes on about your property, telling you and your ‘companion’ what ward you will be going to, no food or drink is to be consumed in the pre-admissions area of the Pre-Operative Department as all the patients are already undergoing a period of fasting.
This leaflet tells you where about in the hospital the ward is. The Pre-Operative Department is a waiting area into which patients are admitted on the day they are scheduled to have their surgery. A Pre-Operative Assessment also occurs within the Pre-Operative Department.
Patients admitted into the Pre-Operative Department have already undergone a Preoperative Assessment and have been assessed to be physically fit to await their surgery in a non-ward area.
The reason for being asked to go to the Pre-Operative Department instead of a ward is because most wards have doctors’ rounds in the morning where patients ready for discharge are identified.
Until the patients on the ward are discharged there is not a ward bed available for the patients having surgery to go to. The Pre-Operative Department allows patients to be admitted and to be prepared for surgery prior to a bed being available on the ward. This in turn facilitates the operating lists to start on time and to ensure that the surgery time available is well used. Having a unit like the Pre-Operative Department helps more patients to receive their treatment promptly.
Patients are requested to report to the Pre-Operative Department reception desk at the time indicated on the admission letter.
The request to arrive at an early hour assists the nursing staff to prepare the patients who are to be first on the operating lists, to ensure that the patients are ready on time. All the patients should attend having had nothing to eat or drink as previously advised. Nursing staff may provide you with water up to two hours prior to your anticipated operation time if your wait is prolonged.
Some patients arriving at 7.00am will be asked to change later, nearer the time they are to go to theatre.
Most patients are asked to attend early to allow their surgical team and the anaesthetist to see them before the team commence operating.
The first patient on the operating list will normally be taken to the theatre at around 7.50am.
The length of time you may wait is decided by your position on the operating list. Your position on the list may change as the day progresses due to some surgical procedures taking longer than expected or where a patient is cancelled due to ill health on the day of surgery.
What happens after admission to the Pre-Operative Department?
Patients are prepared for their surgery, ready to go from the Pre-Operative Department directly into the anaesthetic room.
Patients will be seen by their respective consultant of a member of their consultant’s surgical team and where required they will also be seen by an anaesthetist.
When seeing your surgical/anaesthetic team you are encouraged to ask any additional questions you may gave about the surgery or anaesthetic.
The nursing staff will ask you to change into a gown, record baseline observations such as blood pressure, pulse rate and temperature. You may require additional blood tests, or investigations prior to theatre.
The nurses will prepare patients for theatre according to their position on the operating list. There is a large number of operating theatres running at the same time and the Pre-Operative Department can be a very busy area especially between 7.00am and 9.00am.
When the theatre team is ready to commence your surgery, a member of the theatre team will come to the Pre-Operative Department and escort you to the theatre.
After the Pre-Operative checks you will be walked to the anaesthetic room where you will meet your anaesthetist again.
The Pre-Operative Department is a small area and as such we cannot accommodate any friends or relatives. Any accompanying person will need to say goodbye in the reception area.
The leaflet then goes on about your property, telling you and your ‘companion’ what ward you will be going to, no food or drink is to be consumed in the pre-admissions area of the Pre-Operative Department as all the patients are already undergoing a period of fasting.