Same Day Surgery

Same day surgery is a surgical operation process that is designed for patients who have good health and can be taken through special surgical experience and allowed to return home after the whole process is completed. Before the surgery day, the patients are often taken through preregistration and pre-admission testing. This ensures that hurried preparation the patient’s surgery is avoided (Sharon, 2010).

The patient arrived at the hospital early in the morning and a team of clinical professionals prepared him for the surgery. They made sure that all the necessary information on the patient’s clinical condition was available in order to ensure his safety during the process. The family members who accompanied him were led to a resting place, where they would wait for the patient while the surgical procedure was being done. While the patient was on his way into the operating room, he was attended to by the nurse in charge. The responsibility of the nurse in charge is to coordinate the flow of incoming and outgoing patients in the operating rooms. The nurse in charge ensures that patients are given priority, the necessary resources are allocated, and that clinical staff is assigned to the patients and their care team (Sharon, 2010).

Once the patient reached the operating room, anesthesiologists together with the support staff ensured that the anesthesiology services the patient received were of high quality. This was to enable him to go through the surgical procedure. Qualified professionals then supplied the surgical team with the correct and sterile supplies, equipment and instruments. During the surgical operation, a surgeon and a nurse are expected to supervise the surgical equipment and the room so as to ensure that the environment within the operating room is safe. This is also to ensure that the equipment functions properly and optimizes safety in the conditions accompanying the procedure. After the completion of surgery, the patient is taken to the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit where he is given time for recovery under the care of nurses, doctors and other patient care technicians. At this stage, family members can be allowed to visit the patient until the patient is given discharge instructions and finally discharged (Sharon, 2010).

Pre-Admission Testing (PAT) Nurse and Staging Area Nurse in the same day surgery have definite responsibilities that are geared towards ensuring that no complications arise during the surgical process. PAT nurses often interview patients together with their families and identify issues such as language and culture that could be potential barriers to effective and efficient operation. A registered nurse at the pre-admission clinic also ensures that patients are properly prepared for the required surgical procedure. They do this by checking the vital signs of the patients and recording them. The signs tested for may include blood pressure, heart rate, weight, and other aspects of health as may be required in specific procedures. Where shaving is required in the area on which surgical incision will be done, the nurse ensures that this is done (Sharon, 2010).

A PAT registered nurse in charge is also responsible for educating patients about upcoming surgical procedures. These may include instructions to surgery patients with regards to what would be required at the surgical unit and the duration the procedure is likely to take. The nurse may also instruct surgery patients regarding water intake, diet as well as sleep the night preceding the surgery appointment. In cases where the patients are to undergo surgical process that may have potential complications, the nurse may have to inform the patients accordingly (Sharon, 2010).

In the staging area, a registered nurse together with anesthesiologist has the duty to review the medical information of the patient. This is to ensure that the information is communicated directly to the team conducting the surgery. A nurse in the staging area is also charged with the responsibility of assisting the surgeon during the process. These responsibilities include keeping an eye on the vital signs shown by the patient, passing instruments, and providing suction at the surgical site in order to remove blood and fluids among others. Some staging area nurses work in the operating room as circulating nurses. They patrol the room in order to ensure that everyone stays sterile. They also ensure that drapes, instruments and other equipments are counted to ensure that all of them are in place. The approximate time required to carry out a surgery is often communicated to the patient and family at the Pre-Admission Testing Area. However, in case of unexpected delays, the staging area nurse ensures that the patient and the family members are updated accordingly (Sharon, 2010).

In the same day surgery, close collaboration among health care providers is needed so as to realize the acceptable outcomes. Collaboration is defined as the assumption of complementary roles by health care professionals, in which they cooperatively work together in order to realize effective and efficient healthcare delivery. During the collaboration, health care professionals share problem-solving responsibility and decision making that would help formulate and carry out patient care plans (Sharon, 2010).

The practice helped me to know that during the same day patient surgery experience, the cooperation between physicians and nurses was critical in ensuring that the process was successful. There was the collaboration between a registered nurse and an anesthesiologist in the staging area. Both are members of the surgical team and together with the patient, the two review the health information of the patient just before the surgical operation begins. The collaboration between the two is aimed at ensuring that vital medical information regarding the surgery of that a patient is communicated directly to the surgical team (Sharon, 2010).

However, in order to realize success and collaboration in the same day surgery, good communication between healthcare providers and patients has to be embraced. It facilitates the exchange of information between health care providers and surgery patients and builds good interpersonal relationship between them. It also ensures that patients are included in the decision making process with regards to their health care. This enables patients to comprehend their own medical information, easier identification of their needs hence satisfaction. Failure to embrace good communication in the same day surgery may cause loss of life or an increase in the duration for which the patient would stay at the healthcare facility. Effective communication among the health care providers, surgeons, surgical nurses, and anesthesiologists is also needed for effective delivery of health care services in the same day surgery (Sharon, 2010).

Effective communication was evident in both pre-admission testing and staging area in this given the same day surgery. In the Pre-Admission Testing stage, effective communication between a patient and surgical nurses is often quite critical. For instance, in this case, it was expected that a surgical procedure could result in a significant loss of blood. The nurse in charge informed the patient in advance and advised the patient to opt for autologous blood donation. This proved to be cost-effective and safe as the patient did not have to incur extra cost to cater for blood donation following the surgery in which blood loss was experienced (Sharon, 2010).

Effective communication was also evident among the surgical team in the staging area. In the operating room, effective communication encouraged collaboration, fostered teamwork and helped prevent errors during the surgical process. Moreover, the good working environment created by the surgeon in charge ensured positive outcomes as there was improved information flow and safety, enhanced nurses’ morale, more effective interventions and decreased the length of family stay (Sharon, 2010).

Conclusion

In conclusion, most errors and poor expectations that often characterize a number of surgical operations usually result from the breakdown in communication among surgical team members. It is this challenge that was effectively dealt with during this surgical process. If all healthcare providers would embrace collaboration in everyday operations, all surgical patients would be satisfied with the given services.