Surgery

Watch this to know how you can prepare at home before surgery.

Watch this video to learn what Nothing by Mouth or NPO means and why it's important to follow your healthcare provider instructions before testing or a procedure.

Before any surgery, you need to prepare. You'll be given instructions to follow. While there may be many things you need to do, let's review the basics.

Before you have surgery, you may be asked to wash your skin with a soap containing a chemical called CHG (chlorhexidine gluconate). This antiseptic eliminates many of the germs on your skin. It keeps your surgical site clean and free from infection. This video shows basic CHG showering directions. To get the full benefit, follow the directions for the specific soap you are asked to use.

Before you have surgery, you may be asked to cleanse your skin with disposable cloths moistened with a chemical called CHG (chlorhexidine gluconate). This antiseptic eliminates many of the germs on your skin. It keeps your surgical site clean and free from infection. This video shows basic directions for using CHG cloths. To get the full benefit, follow the directions for the specific type of cloths you are asked to use.

Watch this to know what to expect on the day of your surgery and for the remainder of your hospital stay.

The da Vinci Surgical System is an advanced robotic platform that allows surgeons to perform complex procedures with great precision. da Vinci procedures are performed with minimally-invasive techniques that minimize scarring and pain during recovery. Compared to traditional surgery, a da Vinci procedure can offer a higher success rate and a shorter recovery time.

This advanced form of laparoscopic surgery uses a robot with special arms. The arms are controlled by the surgeon. They help us do complex surgeries through small openings in your skin.

After any surgery, you need some time to recover. Your recovery journey depends on your health and your surgery, of course. But let's learn about some of the things you can expect.

Watch this to understand your recovery from surgery at home, including pain management and signs of possible complications after your surgery.

When you have surgery, or when you have a skin wound, your doctor may choose to use an amniotic tissue graft product to help you heal. This graft may be in the form of a thin sheet of tissue. It may also be an injectable liquid that contains special cells and substances that aid in tissue repair and help your body rebuild itself.

These are bands of scar tissue that grow between your organs. Adhesions can pull on your organs in a harmful way.

This surgery takes an organ from a healthy person and puts it into a sick person. The two people must have blood types and tissues that are compatible. So before a transplant is done, both people must be tested to make sure they are a match.

Watch this to learn the facts behind some common concerns about hysterectomy.

Here are some tips for feeling better and getting well after surgery.

Surgery is a complex process. There's a lot you can do as a patient to help your healthcare team keep you safe. This sheet suggests steps you can take before and after surgery to help make your operation safe and successful.

No matter how your incision was closed, follow these tips to help your incision heal once you get home.

Make life easier and safer after surgery. Reduce household hazards now. By planning ahead now, you'll have less to worry about during recovery.

After surgery, there are steps you can take to help with your recovery. You may have been an inpatient (staying in the hospital overnight) or an outpatient (going home the day of surgery). While in the hospital it is important to follow instructions from your surgeon, nurse, and other healthcare providers.

A drainage tube removes fluid from around an incision. This helps prevent infection and promotes healing. Follow these instructions.

Dressing your incision helps keep it clean, dry, and infection-free. That way it will heal faster. Here are steps to follow.

Some people feel a little nauseated after surgery. This is often due to medicines, dehydration, or simply the stress of surgery. Follow these helpful tips.

You are scheduled to have surgery. The healthcare staff will try to make your stay comfortable. Use the guidelines below to remind yourself what to do before surgery.

Pain after an operation (post-op pain) is common and expected. These guidelines can help you stay as comfortable as possible.

Medicines are not the only way to manage pain after surgery. Try the following techniques.

Outpatient surgery is also called same-day or ambulatory surgery. This sheet gives you more information about how to prepare.

If your movement is limited during recovery, ask a family member or friend to help prepare your bathroom. Use the tips below as a guide to help keep you safe in the bathroom.

This sheet tells you more about surgical site infections, what hospitals are doing to prevent them, and how they are treated if they do occur. It also tells you what you can do to prevent these infections.

Most children need pain management in the hospital. Your child's health care provider will assess your child's pain and prescribe pain medication as needed. You can alert the health care team if you notice any signs of pain or discomfort in your child.

Follow these tips to help your child's incision heal as it should and prevent infection.

This sheet will help you learn what to expect after your outpatient surgery. It covers medicines, recovering at home, and follow-up care.

Here are images showing how to change the dressing on a surgical wound or incision.

Pain is expected after surgery. Know that you have a right to have this pain controlled. Managing pain helps you recover faster.

Robotic surgery doesn't mean that a machine does surgery instead of a person. It means that a surgeon uses the robotic tools to do surgery.

After any kind of surgery, many people have slow bowels and trouble urinating. This is common and lasts for a few days or so.

It's normal to feel anxious before having surgery. Here are some ways to make you feel more comfortable about your pending procedure.

Being as physically healthy as possible before surgery is important. It can help shorten your hospital stay and your total healing time.

Before your scheduled surgery, your surgical team may advise you to wash your body using a CHG skin cleanser. This helps reduce your risk for a surgical site infection.

Your surgeon has decided that you'll receive regional anesthesia. This sheet tells you what to expect with this type of anesthesia.

Details about what to expect when you have anesthesia.

Your anesthesiologist gives you anesthetics (medicines to keep you comfortable and decrease your awareness of surgery) and monitors your condition to keep you safe during surgery. You will have 1 of 3 kinds of anesthesia during your surgery.

Procedural sedation is medicine to ease discomfort, pain, and anxiety during a procedure. While you are under sedation, you will likely be awake. But you may not remember anything afterward.

Malignant hyperthermia is a rare reaction to certain medicines used for general anesthesia. The problem is severe and life threatening, but it can be treated.

General anesthesia makes a person unconscious. People call this 'put under' or 'put to sleep.' But it isn't the same as regular sleep. A person given general anesthesia cannot feel pain. And, the person won't remember what happens during a medical procedure.

Local anesthesia makes a part of the body numb to prevent a patient from feeling pain during a medical procedure. Local anesthesia is commonly used for many minor outpatient surgeries.

This numbing medication is injected into the cerebrospinal fluid through a fine needle placed near the nerve roots of the lower spine. It can be used to numb the abdomen, groin, legs and feet. It does not put the patient to sleep, but blocks painful sensations during or after a medical procedure.

Monitored anesthesia care is a type of anesthesia that makes the patient feel very relaxed. It reduces painful sensations and the awareness of pain. It is not intended to put the patient to sleep, and will wear off quickly after a procedure. Monitored anesthesia care is commonly used for simple procedures that can be completed quickly.

Anesthesia is the use of medications to block the pain of a medical procedure. The medications that block this pain are called anesthetics. Different forms of anesthesia are used to prepare patients for different types of procedures.

A peripheral nerve block is a type of regional anesthesia. It can completely block sensation in an arm, leg or other area for surgery. A peripheral nerve block doesn't put you to sleep. However, a nerve block can be combined with sedation or general anesthesia during surgery.

This is an injection of anesthetic. It blocks pain in a large area of your body. It doesn't put you to sleep. But along with it, we may give you medicine to relax you or put you to sleep.

This is an injection of anesthetic. It numbs your arm and hand. It can prepare you for surgery and control your pain after surgery.

This is a way to monitor your nerves during surgery. It gives your surgical team real-time feedback. It helps keep your nerves safe during your procedure. Here's how it works.

This is a form of therapy that allows doctors to move your body without causing you any discomfort or pain. It's a technique used by specially-trained physicians and chiropractors, and it can be helpful for a variety of patients. During the procedure, you are given medicine that relaxes you or puts you to sleep. Then, your care team moves and stretches your body into specific positions based on your needs. As part of the procedure, some patients may be given injections that will help relieve pain.

Multimodal pain control eases your pain with a combination of medicines. It can be used before, during and after a surgical procedure. The goal is to reduce the use of narcotics and their unpleasant side effects.

This is a pain-blocking injection given behind your knee. We use it to block the pain of surgery on your lower leg, ankle and foot.

During this procedure, a catheter is inserted behind the knee so that the lower branches of the sciatic nerve can be bathed in a continuous flow of anesthetic solution. Typically, it is used to numb the leg for surgery on the lower leg, ankle and foot and to manage pain following surgery.

During this procedure, a catheter is inserted behind the knee so that the lower branches of the sciatic nerve can be bathed in a continuous flow of anesthetic solution. Typically, it is used to numb the leg for surgery on the lower leg, ankle and foot and to manage pain following surgery.

During this procedure, a catheter is inserted behind the knee so that the lower branches of the sciatic nerve can be bathed in a continuous flow of anesthetic solution. Typically, it is used to numb the leg for surgery on the lower leg, ankle and foot and to manage pain following surgery.

This procedure is an injection of anesthesia (or an anesthetic/steroid mixture) around the sciatic nerve. It can be used to block the pain of surgery on the knee, leg ankle or foot, or it can be used to manage the pain of chronic issues in the lower extremity.