Your Guide to Same Day Surgery : Instructions for Same Day Surgery Patients Having General Anesthetic and Guidelines for the Professional Nurse in Teaching the Same Day Surgery Patient
Abstract
The nurse's role in preoperative teaching is well established. Traditionally, the patient was taught preoperatively the evening before surgery. The rapid growth of ambulatory surgery programs offers a unique teaching challenge to the professional nurse. With Same Day Surgery, the patient is admitted within two hours of the scheduled surgery. Increased anxiety at this time may inhibit the patient's ability to comprehend preoperative instructions. Decreased contact time with the patient both before and after surgery increases the need for education in self-care. A planned, comprehensive approach is necessary to meet the needs of the Same Day Surgery patient. The overall objectives of the teaching are to reduce distress, to assist the person to cope with the surgical experience, to promote active participation in self-care, and to improve rate of recovery. The Same Day Surgery booklet describes the preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative phases from the patient's perspective. It provides sensory information, temporal information, exercise instruction, and other information necessary for self-care. The Guidelines present a plan for implementing the Same Day Surgery booklet as part of a comprehensive preoperative teaching program.