Seattle Plastic Surgeon gets an inside view of the surgery check in process at a famous Seattle hospital.
Recently I helped a much loved family member check into a famous hospital in Seattle for some orthopedic surgery. He is by nature a pretty calm person and had great confidence in his surgeon and was really, really looking forward to playing soccer again. But still, he was about to undergo the knife.
We arrived in the parking garage, went up the elevator and came to a gorgeous, modern, clean surgery reception area. The lady at the front desk was very nice and courteous but there was so much stuff she had to do. There were forms to fill out, papers to sign, phone numbers to give, prescriptions to fill, ID to show and yada, yada, yada, yada. My loved one rolled with it but I could see he was getting a more than a little nervous.
This got me to thinking about much better we do it in our office operating room. Our patients come in for a pre-operative visit usually about 2 weeks before the surgery date. At this visit, we leisurely go over the operative plan, review consent forms and instructions, fill out the history and physical exam and anethesia forms, get all necessary signatures, get all the financial business taken care of and write the patient their prescriptions for them to fill before the day of surgery. This way, when the patient comes in for their surgery, all of this necessary yada, yada, yada has been done.
I know this preoperative visit makes the day of surgery go a lot smoother for me and I think it also makes the day of surgery a lot easier and calmer for our patients. I think the preoperative visit is time very, very well spent.
Thanks for reading. Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder
@lisalynnsowder
