What is ambulatory care?
Ambulatory surgery is a specialized area of care that allows patients to have surgery and then return home the same day. These centers are also called out patient surgery centers. We understand how important time is to our patients and how anesthesia and surgery can interrupt your lives. This is why we offer every convenience for you when you need ambulatory anesthesia while maintaining your safety.

What steps are involved if I need ambulatory care anesthesia?
Day Before – Preoperative Ambulatory Care Anesthesia Evaluation
The day before you need ambulatory care anesthesia a nurse will contact you to ask basic medical questions, provide instructions on medications and eating and drinking before surgery. Depending on your medical history, you may be asked to come to the ambulatory surgery center the day prior to surgery in order to meet with the nurse or anesthesiologist.

Arrival
On the day of surgery you will check in at the hospital admissions area. After filling out the necessary forms, you are taken to the preoperative changing area where you will be asked to change into a hospital gown. Once you have changed, a member of the Southeast Anesthesiology team will escort you to a room where your anesthesiologist will conduct a preoperative history and physical exam if these have not already been completed. Additionally, your anesthesiologist will prescribe and discuss your anesthetic plan. At this time an IV will be started, and in many cases the patient will be given intravenous sedation that will help them relax.

Postoperative Follow-Up
Quality outcome and patient satisfaction are extremely important to us, and we contact patients by telephone on the day after ambulatory or outpatient surgery to determine how well we performed. We ask about anesthetic and surgical results and level of satisfaction. These results are closely tracked and studied by our physicians.

What are the differences in ambulatory care anesthesia and other forms of anesthesia care?
Standards of anesthetic care and management are identical for ambulatory anesthesia, inpatient anesthesia and same-day admissions anesthesia. Ambulatory surgery comprises a specialized area of pain control, and involves differences that are important in medical quality and patient satisfaction.

Pain control after the operation and nausea prevention are important, and our ambulatory anesthetics are designed to achieve maximum safety and comfort in the postoperative period. We incorporate state-of-the-art anesthetic processes to help ensure that our patients' at-home recovery is low stress, low pain, and nausea free.