PREPARATION

FASTING
For a safe anaesthetic:
  • Stop eating solid food and milk 6 hours before your hospital admission time. This includes avoiding milk in coffee and tea, and alcohol
  • Fasting reduces the risk of regurgitating stomach contents which, if it occurs, may lead to damage to the lungs by stomach acid
  • If these instructions are not followed your surgery will be deferred to another time/date
  • You may continue drinking small sips of water up until 2 hours before your hospital admission
  • Tablets can be taken at any time before your operation with small sips of water

YOUR MEDICATION
  • Please bring a medication list with you to hospital on the day of surgery
  • Apart from diabetic medications and blood thinners, you should take all your normal medications on the day of surgery with a sip of water. These include blood pressure medications, pain killers, heart medications and puffers
  • If you are unsure about whether to continue or stop any medication please contact me
  • Blood Thinners eg. Aspirin, clopidogrel (Plavix, Iscover), warfarin, dabigatran (Pradaxa), apixaban (Eliquis) etc.
    • Depending on your procedure and reason for taking blood thinners they may need to be ceased a few days prior to surgery
    • Your surgeon may advise you, otherwise please contact me for instructions
  • Diabetes
    • Do not take any oral (tablet) diabetic medications on the day of your operation
    • If you normally take insulin you will require a reduced dose on the morning of your operation. Please contact me to discuss your insulin regime​
    • IMPORTANT: if you are taking a diabetes medication that has a generic name ending in -ozin eg. dapaglifolozin,  empagliflozin, canagliflozin, ertugliflozin, these medications need to be stopped 3 days prior to moderate/major surgery (usually any surgery that requires overnight admission). Common trade names include jardiance, forxiga, xigduo, glyxambi. Please contact me to discuss further.

SMOKING
  • Smoking increases the risks during an anaesthetic and recovery
  • Smoking may also increase your risk of surgical complications eg. Infection, delayed/poor wound healing 
  • You are advised to stop smoking 6 weeks prior to your procedure
  • At the very minimum smoking should be avoided 48 hrs prior
  • Nicotine replacement therapy can be organized via your GP

If you have any concerns or questions about these instructions please contact me.