Your operation date
After your appointment with the surgeon and it is agreed you need an operation you will be placed on a waiting list. Your surgeon may tell you roughly how long you will have to wait and you will receive a confirmation letter from the cardiac surgery waiting list office. Sometime before the date your operation is due you will receive a letter from the pre-assessment nurses with an appointment or occasionally you may be contacted by phone.
Patient Education Session
You may be invited to our award winning education session alongside other patients where you hear details of how to best prepare yourself for surgery. After some presentations on what to expect when you are in hospital for your operation, you will have the opportunity to talk to some of our staff and to ask questions in an informal setting over some tea and scones.
Pre-assessment clinic
This clinic aims to prepare you for your operation – both emotionally and physically. It takes place in the Ambulatory Care Centre on Level 1 in the Royal Victoria Hospital, and is run each day by cardiac surgery pre-aassessment nurses. There is also a weekly clinic with a consultant anaesthetist present.
It is important that we do some tests in advance of your admission to prepare you for the surgery. You may be in the clinic for up to 3-4 hours and, if possible, it is reccommended a family member is present.
All patients will have:
- blood tests
- an electrocardiogram (ECG), which records the electrical activity of the heart
- a chest x-ray
- swabs taken for methicillin resistant stapylococcus aureus (MRSA).
- full medical history and physican examination
- breathing tests ( PFT,s)
Members of the team will also talk to you about things to plan beforehand, such as how much time off work you will need, your recovery and how to get home after your surgery. It also provides an opportunity for you to talk about any worries and anxieties that you may have. You will meet some of the staff and can familiarise yourself with the hospital before you are admitted. At this time you can also give us your contact details .
