These include open heart operations, vascular procedures such as bypass operations, abdominal operations such as colon resections, etc. For most of these procedures, patients are admitted to the hospital on the day of their operation. For younger patients, pre-procedure testing is often waived until the day of surgery. Immediately following surgery, patients are cared for in post-anaesthesia care units until they are awake enough to go to a regular patient room in the main hospital. In-house nursing and physician services are available 24 hrs a day.
Postoperative discomfort is often a major concern for patients and their families.
At Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a specialized team of anesthesiologists help the surgical team with postoperative pain management, and they are available 24 hrs a day. Special attention is paid to individual needs when it comes to postoperative discomfort. When patients push the button attached to the PCA machine, the machine gives them a carefully measured amount of pain medicine into their intravenous - they can repeat this until they feel comfortable. There are special automatic lock-out mechanisms to prevent patients giving themselves too much medicine. This is similar to the way pregnant women get pain relief when they are delivering in the hospital.