Klamath Surgery Center | Medical Services in Klamath Falls, OR

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASC) are facilities where surgeries that do not require a hospital inpatient admission are performed. They provide a safe, cost-effective, caring and convenient environment that is less stressful than a large hospital environment.
Surgery center staff will call you the day before your surgery to tell you the time to arrive at the surgical center. If you have not received a call by 2:00pm on the day prior to surgery, please telephone the surgical center to ask about your surgical and arrival time.
Please call both your surgeon’s office and the surgical center as soon as possible. If you call after hours, an answering service will take your message.
Please check with your insurance carrier to review your benefits and determine if pre-authorization is required. If you need assistance with this, the surgical center billing department will be happy to help you.
Please go to the Patient section of this website to review what to do before your surgery, the day of surgery, and after your surgery.
Please bring all insurance cards and information with you. Your doctor may provide you with a surgical center Registration Form that you can fill out and bring with you. If your doctor did not give you a blank registration form, you can print out the form under the menu option ‘Patient Info’ on this website, complete it and bring it in on the day of surgery. Please bring your list of medications, including the dosages. Also include a list of any supplements, herbal preparations and vitamins that you take. Please bring any paperwork given to you by your surgeon. Please bring your healthcare Power of Attorney and/or Guardianship papers (if applicable). Please leave all jewelry and valuables at home (including rings, watches, necklaces, earrings, and money). While we do our best to safeguard your belongings, they are best secured at home.
If you are having surgery under anesthesia, with the exception of local anesthesia, you cannot drive, and must be accompanied home by a responsible adult. This policy is for your safety, and is strictly adhered to. You cannot take a taxi home, unless accompanied by a responsible adult.
Due to the need for privacy, we suggest that a limit of one or two family members visit the patient during the postoperative phase. We are happy to give family members waiting in reception periodic updates on the patient’s condition.

Additional Information

It is very important that you are well prepared for your upcoming surgery. Please review the ‘Patients Info’ section of this website for detailed instructions regarding your surgery.
Undigested food and liquids in the stomach can cause complications and your surgery is likely to be postponed if you forget to follow this instruction.
Most patients will not be required to have pre-operative testing. Any pre-operative testing required will be determined by your surgeon, anesthesiologist or as instructed by the pre-operative nurse.
The pre-operative nurse will ask you if there is a chance you may be pregnant. This is important, because anesthesia and medications may be harmful to your developing baby.
A patient’s response to the anesthesia drugs may vary based on drug and alcohol usage.
Smoking may interfere with the anesthetic and frequently produces nausea during the recovery period.
Return to work will be determined by your surgeon.
Return to exercise will be determined by your surgeon.
For safety and sterility reasons, the surgical center does not allow family members or others not on the surgical team to observe surgeries.
The operating room temperature is kept low for the maintenance of our equipment and to maintain sterility of our supplies. You will be kept warm throughout your procedure.
The surgical center is fully equipped with state of the art emergency equipment and supplies. The surgical center utilizes the same Anesthesia providers as our local hospital, Sky Lakes Medical Center. The recovery room nurses are trained in critical care, and are ACLS (Advanced cardiac life support) certified. In the event of an emergency, the patient is stabilized, then transferred via ambulance to the hospital of the physician’s choice.
All patients receive an IV except those having local anesthesia.
Patients are often comfortable when leaving the surgery center and do not think they will need anything as strong as a prescription pain pill. Your pain will be better controlled when you take your pain medication as prescribed. It is much easier to keep your pain under control than try to alleviate it with more medication once you are very uncomfortable. We recommend that you fill your prescription either prior to your surgery or have your ride fill it while you are in surgery. (Please note that most pharmacies will not fill prescriptions for narcotic pain medications without a written prescription.)

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