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Your PAC Visit

What to bring with you to your PAC appointment

1. List of medications (name, dosage, time of day taken)
2. If you are having surgery on the day of your visit, please bring all your medications with you. 
3. Information about your past medical history, allergies, and surgical history or a completed PAC patient intake form
4. Names and contact information for your primary care doctor

 

During your PAC visit, you may anticipate the following:

1. PAC Check-in (at appointment time) with receptionist to complete hospital consent forms and verify information. Present completed PAC intake form at this time.

2. Medication verification with Pharmacy Technician.

3. Meeting with NCBH financial counseling advisor.

4. Vital Sign station (blood pressure, heart rate, height, and weight).

5. PAC nursing intake process (private room). Preoperative information will be confirmed and entered into the electronic medical record.

6. Evaluation by Anesthesia physician and/or representative.  This may include residents, P.A.’s, or Nurse Practitioners who are trained to perform preoperative assessments and evaluations. A brief physical examination will occur, such as listening to your heart and lungs. A brief description of the types of anesthesia that might be used for your surgery will be reviewed.

7. Instructions: If the upcoming surgery is fairly simple, anesthesia may only involve sedations and local anesthetics. For more complex surgeries, a general anesthetic may be required whereby the patient is “asleep” or a regional technique may be more appropriate (just your arm, leg, or lower body is “numbed/asleep”).  If this is the case, the details of the anesthetic will be more thoroughly discussed the day of surgery.  The final decisions regarding the type of anesthetic is often made the evening before surgery.

8. PAC nursing discharge process: After the anesthesia evaluation the nurse will discuss preoperative instructions, where to go, and what time to arrive to surgical services on the day of surgery. Maps will be provided.  The actual time of surgery will be confirmed by phone call on the day before the anticipated procedure (after 3 pm).

9. Testing, if necessary or required by surgeon. Blood testing, electrocardiograms (heart tracings), chest X-rays and other tests may be performed after the anesthesia evaluation. These tests are ordered based on health issues, medications taken, and the nature of the surgery. Occasionally, these tests will have been ordered and/or completed by the surgeon or medical doctor. If tests have been completed by another physician, please bring the results of these tests to your appointment. These can be scanned into your medical record and need not be duplicated.

10. Last but not least, we encourage you to ask questions about your anesthetic care during your visit.  The visit is an important time to learn about what to expect, as well as for you to express your preferences.