Day of Surgery

Day Surgery at WakeMed Cary Hospital

The Day of Surgery

At Home

• Please brush your teeth the morning of surgery, but do not swallow any water.
• Please bathe or shower before surgery
• Wear loose comfortable clothing
• If you wear contact lenses, please bring contact supplies and/or wear your glasses.
• Do not wear any make-up or dark colored nail polish
• Leave valuables at home, including jewelry, piercings and money.

Medication Guidelines for Day of Surgery

• You should take your heart, blood pressure, seizure, stomach acid reflux or asthma medicine with two tablespoons of water, unless instructed otherwise by the anesthesiologist.
• If you are unsure about whether or not you should take your regular medications, please speak with your surgeon or Day Surgery nurse.
• Do not take your insulin or diabetes pill(s).
• If you use an inhaler at home, please bring it with you to the hospital.
• Inform your Day Surgery nurse if you have taken blood thinner medications (Plavix, Heparin, and Coumadin) within the last month prior to surgery.

At the Hospital

Arrive at the hospital two hours before your scheduled surgery unless otherwise instructed by the Day Surgery Staff or your surgeon.

Free parking is available in the surface lot in front of the hospital.

Enter at Cary Hospital's Main Entrance and check-in at the Information Desk.  You will receive a number that is called when Patient Registration is ready to register you.  After verifying that all of your insurance and demographic information is correct, Patient Registration will place an armband on your wrist.  You will then be directed to the Day Surgery Reception Desk.

Day Surgery Center

You and your family will receive a Day Surgery Center pager.  This pager is used as a communication tool while you are under the care of the Day Surgery Center staff.  Whenever this pager is activated (blinks and makes buzzing noise), please return to the Day Surgery Reception Desk for information.

Your family will keep this service pager until you are discharged home, transferred to a room or they leave the hospital.  If your family leaves the hospital, we ask that they provide a cell phone number.  We ask that children not be left unattended in the lobby.

Pre-Operation Preparation

After registering, you will be brought back to the Day Surgery Center for pre-op preparation.  This process will take approximately 1 hour.  Your family will wait in the lobby during this time.  Once prepped, you will be allowed two visitors in the pre-op area.

Quality Assurance

As part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the utmost safety for our patients, you may be asked the same questions by more than one caregiver. Staff responsible for your care will verify who you are, what kind of surgery you are having and which part of your body the surgery is to be performed. Staff will also double-check what you tell them against the documents from your surgeon's office. While it might seem redundant, it is an important part of our quality assurance (safety) process.

Prior to surgery, your anesthesiologist will meet with you in the pre-op area to discuss your plan of care.  You will sign a consent for anesthesia on the day of surgery. 

Depending upon the type of surgery you are having, a member of your health care team will mark a "WM" on the correct location of your body that the procedure/surgery is to be performed.  Site marking is a critical step in ensuring your safety and preventing errors, especially if you are having surgery on one of your arms, legs, hands fingers, eyes, ears, etc. 

Just before the surgery begins the entire surgery team will take a "time out". During this time out, the surgery team assures that they are performing the correct procedure at the correct site on the correct patient.

After Surgery

The surgeon is responsible for talking to your family after your surgery is completed.  There are private conference rooms available for this purpose.

After surgery you will go to PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit) to wake up.  Family is not permitted in the PACU.  If you are to be discharged home, you will be transported to the Phase 2 area of the Day Surgery department for discharge care.  If you are to remain in the hospital, you will be transported to your room.