Anesthesia

The prospect of undergoing surgery commonly brings about a certain level of anxiety, no matter how "routine" a procedure might be involved. This is especially true when a patient will be receiving anesthesia.

Much of the worry about anesthesia -- How will I react? Will I get sick? Will I feel pain? How long will it last? -- can be avoided if a patient makes sure to gain a thorough understanding of the procedure beforehand.

Talk With Your Caretakers
Communication and cooperation are essential to the anesthesia process. Active participation in your care helps ensure your comfort and safety. This includes speaking with your physician, anesthesiologist, and nurse anesthetist, who will closely monitor all your important body functions, while you are unconscious.

Modern Advances Increase Safety
Statistics show that anesthesia today is safer and more effective than it has ever been. Advancements in monitoring technology and anesthetic drugs, extensive specialty education and training, and high professional standards have made the administration of anesthesia one of the safest aspects of a surgical or obstetrical procedure.

An Array of Options
There are four major types of anesthesia, which are administered to allow you to be free of pain. The type of anesthesia chosen for you depends on factors such as your physical condition, the nature of the surgery, and your reactions to medications. These are some of the most important factors to discuss with your doctor or nurse anesthetist.

General anesthesia produces unconsciousness so that you will not feel, see, or hear anything during the surgical procedure. The anesthetic medications are given to you through an intravenous line or through an anesthesia mask.

Regional anesthesia produces numbness with the injection of local anesthesia around nerves in a region of the body corresponding to the surgical procedure. Medications can be given that will make you comfortable, drowsy and blur your memory.

Monitored anesthesia care usually involves pain medication and sedatives administered through your intravenous line from your anesthesiologist. The surgeon or anesthesiologist also will inject local anesthesia into the skin, which will provide additional pain control during and after the procedure.

Local anesthesia is injected by the surgeon to provide numbness at the surgical site.

Different types of patients or procedures may require different types of anesthesia, which again can be determined through a thorough interview between patient and medical personnel.

In many cases, patients who receive anesthesia are allowed to go home the day of their surgery. It is important to remember, however, that the medications you have received can remain in your body for up to 24 hours. Also during this time, substances entering your body can interact with the anesthetic, some negatively.

Therefore, check with your care provider about what medications you can take after receiving anesthesia medication. Continue to communicate and cooperate with your nurse anesthetist and physician after surgery.