Here are the steps for changing a surgical wound dressing.
Watch this video to learn what informed consent is and why it's important.
Watch this video to learn how to bathe with chlorhexidine gluconate or CHG at home before a surgery.
Watch this to learn how to calm your mind before a procedure.
Watch this video for tips on how to prepare for surgery.
Watch this to know how you can prepare at home before surgery.
Watch this video to learn how to prepare for surgery when you have Diabetes.
Watch this to learn how to shower with CHG liquid soap 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.
Watch this video to learn about sedation and how to prepare when you need to have sedation.
Watch this video to learn the basic details of what happens during a laparoscopy procedure.
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.
Watch this video to learn how to take care of yourself after surgery, including how to spot infections, manage your medications, and stay active safely to help your recovery.
Watch this video to learn how to use a negative pressure device and know when to seek care.
Watch this video to learn how to pack a wound at home.
Watch this video to learn the instructions to care for stitches and help them heal properly.
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.
This advanced tech is used in many types of surgeries. It helps us treat critical, complex organs like the brain and heart. We use it for joint replacement. And we use it for a wide range of general surgeries.
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 health care team keep you safe. This sheet suggests steps you can take before and after surgery to help you do your part.
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 directions from your surgeon, nurse, and other health care 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 health care 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 medicine 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 to help 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. Read on to learn more.
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 care team may advise you to wash your body using a CHG skin cleanser. This helps reduce your risk for a surgical site infection.
1. Move the sliding goal marker as directed. 2. Sit up straight. 3. Hold the spirometer upright and at shoulder level. 4. Breathe out normally. 5. Place your lips around the mouthpiece. 6. Take a slow, deep breath in.
Watch this video to learn the types of anesthesia that may be used for a surgery or procedure.
Watch this video to learn the basics of epidural anesthesia and how it is given.
Watch this video to learn what a peripheral nerve block is and how it's given.
An anesthesiologist is a doctor who specializes in blocking pain. They do this with drugs called "anesthetics." These drugs block the pain of childbirth. They can put you into a deep sleep for surgery. And they can help you manage pain from injury and chronic conditions.
This sheet explains steps you may need to take to prepare for anesthesia.
Your surgeon will use monitored anesthesia care (MAC) during your upcoming surgery. This sheet tells you more about this type of anesthesia.
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. Learn more about sedation and how to care for yourself 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.
This type of anesthesia uses medicine to help you relax during a medical procedure. You may feel calm and sleepy, but you are not fully unconscious. You can still respond to simple instructions. Moderate sedation is often used in an office or outpatient setting for procedures that do not require you to be completely asleep. Let's take a moment to learn more.
This injection of anesthetic numbs your lower body. We commonly use it for surgeries in the pelvic area and the legs. We also use it to block the pain of childbirth. You'll be awake and alert during and after this injection.
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.
This type of anesthesia uses medicine that numbs a small part of your body so you don't feel pain during a medical procedure. You stay awake the whole time. Local anesthesia is used when only a small area needs care. Let's take a moment to learn more.
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.
This type of anesthesia helps you relax during a procedure. You may feel calm and sleepy, and you may drift into a deeper level of sleep. It's often used in a hospital or surgery center. An anesthesia specialist stays with you the entire time and focuses only on your care. They can adjust the amount of medicine at any moment. Let's take a moment to learn more.
This is the use of medicine to block pain during a procedure. It helps doctors perform surgery and other treatments safely. There are different types, depending on your needs. Let's take a moment to learn more.
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 therapy improves motion in a joint. It allows your care team to move your joint through its full range of motion. This technique is performed by specially-trained providers. Let's take a moment to learn more.
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.
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.
An interscalene block is a type of peripheral nerve block. It's a shot of numbing medicine that's given near the brachial plexus in the neck, near the collarbone. Learn how it's done, what to expect, and what the risks are.
An intercostal nerve block is an injection (shot) of medicine close to the intercostal nerves to numb the nerves and treat pain in your chest and upper belly. The intercostal nerves start at your spine and run underneath your ribs.
A peripheral nerve block is an injection (shot) of medicine to numb a part of your body before an operation, or to control pain right after an operation. It's a type of regional anesthesia.
A pudendal nerve block is an injection (shot) of medicine close to the pudendal nerve. It can numb the nerve and block pain. The pudendal nerve runs from the back of your pelvis to the muscles and skin in your anus and your vagina or penis.
Watch this video to learn what happens during a kidney transplant and how to prepare.
Watch this video to learn what to expect and how to care for yourself when you return home after a kidney transplant.
This sheet includes ways to protect yourself from infection after your transplant. You will continue these precautions until your health care provider tells you to stop. You may need to follow these guidelines for the rest of your life.
CMV is a common viral infection. In most people, it doesn't cause serious symptoms. But if you've had an organ transplant, it can cause serious illness.
People who get an organ transplant (organ recipients) and people who donate an organ (organ donors) are less healthy if they smoke cigarettes.
Organ rejection is when your immune system attacks a transplanted organ. It's most common early, but can happen anytime. Watch for fever, pain or swelling, trouble breathing, less urine, sudden weight gain, or yellow skin or eyes.
Medicine adherence means taking your medicines exactly as directed. It's very important for people with an organ transplant. After an organ transplant, you need to take anti-rejection medicines every day for the rest of your life.
After an organ transplant, you take anti-rejection medicines. These medicines weaken your immune system so that it doesn't attack your new organ. But a weaker immune system also raises your risk for infection.
Depression is a mental health condition that causes you to feel sad, lose interest in activities that you used to enjoy, withdraw from others, and have little energy. It's different from normal feelings of sadness, grief, or low energy.
Foodborne illness, or food poisoning, is illness from eating food that is contaminated. The food may have harmful bacteria, parasites, or viruses. Or it may have poisons (toxins).