Preparing for a surgical procedure requires time and planning. Although you might feel proud of showing up punctually and filling out the necessary paperwork in neat, legible writing, you must look after your health, understand all of the details about the procedure and get a sense of who will be taking care of you. Samuel Lin MD, a plastic surgeon who is board certified by both the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology, has supplied several points to consider when preparing for surgery.
1. Know Your Physician’s Qualifications
Confirm your physician’s experience in conducting your particular surgery option, ensuring that they are qualified with the substantial medical education and training. If you’re set on putting your well-being into the hands of an individual, Samuel Lin MD urges you to perform research on their medical background and capabilities to ensure that the procedure will go according to plan.
2. Know Where The Surgery Will Take Place
Surgery outside of a hospital, be it at an outpatient facility or your doctor’s office, must be licensed and judiciously accredited by an organization like The Joint Commission, the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care or the American Association of Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities. You can verify the licensing with your state’s health department and make certain that the facility itself has medications, equipment and procedures accessible to competently handle emergencies that hopefully will not arise during the procedure.
3. Anesthesia Care
Your anesthesia care is managed by a physician anesthesiologist, a medical doctor who specializes in anesthesia, pain management and critical care medicine, working in unison with your surgeon and other physicians to develop and perform your surgery. These medical professionals are crucial to your care, as they possess a minimum of 12 to 14 years of education, along with thousands of hours of comprehensive clinical training. Their duties include meeting you prior to the surgery, monitoring your anesthesia and vital functions over the course of the procedure, and keeping an eye on your recovery progress and levels of pain after the surgery is completed.
4. Maintain Good Health
Before the procedure, remain physically active, eat healthily and get adequate sleep. Quit smoking, whether you’re an avid or occasional in your indulgence, since it can create problems relating to breathing, wound healing, and recovery from anesthesia or surgery. Samuel Lin MD notes that additional guidelines and expectations might be added in meetings with your specific medical team. Some of these guidelines might include fasting for a period of time before the surgery and shaving the area of the procedure.
5. Understand Your Insurance Coverage
Unexpected, confusing medical bills don’t exactly ensure a speedy recovery after a surgical procedure. For your knowledge, discover who will be assigned to your care and if they are in your insurance coverage plan’s network. Dial their phone number, list off the names in order, for the facilities and medical experts, find out who and what are included in your network. Usually, these bills occur because an insurance plan offers a modest premium yet limits the number of physicians available in the network to only a specific list. Cosmetic surgery is different as these procedures are completely out of pocket expenses and do not involve insurance usually.
Samuel Lin MD concludes that the more prepared you are for the surgery, the greater the likelihood of avoiding unexpected surprises or problems occurring and ensuring that you will have a quiet road to recovery.