Preparation

Get ready for your operation with practical preparation tips and advice. Discover pre-operative requirements, what to expect on the day, and how to ease any anxieties.

All You Need to Know About Medical Consent

Before a doctor or any other kind of medical practitioner can treat you, they must have your consent. Although you can often be asked to sign a medical conse...

Dealing With Surgical Delays

The prospect of having to undergo surgery is enough to frighten anybody and it can cause a lot of stress. In fact, it’s often the psychological aspect of h...

Eating and Drinking Before You Go Into Hospital

Whether you can eat and drink as normal before you go into hospital will often depend on the type of treatment you’re about to undergo but if you are havin...

Explaining Your Hospital Stay to Young Children

If you have to go into hospital and you have young children, it can be a particularly traumatic time and very worrying for you. Nobody likes to be separated...

How Anaesthetic Works

Anaesthesia is quite a complex issue to understand and it’s often by combining several different techniques that the desired effect is achieved and each of...

How Sedation Works

Some forms of operation need to be carried out under general anaesthesia as it is important that you are completely asleep while the surgery is in progress....

Preparing Mentally For a Hospital Stay

When you are told that you need to go into hospital, your physician will often give you information about how you can prepare physically before it but even t...

Preparing Physically For a Hospital Stay

It’s important that you prepare yourself physically before you go into hospital for surgery. You can do this in a number of ways - through proper diet, exe...

Preparing Your Child for Surgery

Although we all hope that our children never need to go into hospital for surgery, there is actually a very significant chance that, at some point, you’ll...

Questions You May Want to Ask the Surgeon

If you are told that you need surgery, you may be so overwhelmed at the thought of it that you may come away from that initial consultation a little bewilder...

What is a 'Pre-Med'?

A ‘pre-med’ is the shortened term for pre-medication, which refers to a drug or a combination of drugs which are given to patients prior to them receivin...

What is Meant By 'Informed Consent'?

Informed consent helps to protect both the person who is undergoing medical treatment and the hospital that is administering it. It is a form which a patient...

What is Pre-Admission Testing in Hospital?

Pre-admission testing gives both the patient the opportunity to ask any questions about their forthcoming operation and it’s also necessary from a medical...