The pre-operative work-up
Once you have been identified as requiring a surgical procedure, your physician will do a pre-operative work-up to assess your risks and confirm your best possible health prior to exposing you to the stress of a surgery. The standard work-up is as follows:
Physicians Office:
- History and Physical (urologist or referring doctor)
- Laboratory Studies:
- CBC with differential (complete blood count)
- Electrolyte Panel (Na, Cl, K, CO2, BUN, CR and Glucose)
- Liver Function Tests (LFT?s)
- SMAC-20 (combination of electrolytes, LFT?s others)
- Urine Analysis
- Urine Culture
- PSA for Men
- Urine HCG (pregnancy test)
- PT/PTT (coagulation studies)
- Others are disease specific
- X-Ray Studies:
- Every patient shall receive a Chest X-Ray if not done within a year
- Others are disease specific
- EKG (over 40 years old or if cardiac history if younger)
- Pulmonary Function Testing (If you have a history of breathing problems)
- Sub-specialist Consults (cardiac, pulmonary, anesthesia, etc. if needed)
Anesthesiologist Office:
- Anesthesia counseling session
Pre-Admissions at the Hospital:
- Depending on the hospital, there are standard requirements for their respective pre-admission paper work.
- This is where you will have all of the pre-operative paper work collated and put into a chart made ready for the day of surgery.
- You will receive a nurse counseling session in which the process is explained.
- They will check to make sure all the required studies and signed paper work is completed and in the chart.
- Consent forms will be explained, signed, and witnessed.
- General instructions that are to be performed the night before and the morning of the surgery will be explained. These are hospital specific and may be different at each hospital. However, below you will find some general rules for the night before surgery.