Before Admission – Pre-Admission Forms

Your doctor will inform you of the day of your hospital admission as well as notifying the hospital of the date of your procedure.

Your doctor will explain your procedure or operation to you and complete your consent form with you. Your doctor may request that you visit your GP for a general health assessment before your procedure. Regardless of whether your doctor recommends visiting your GP beforehand, it’s important that you have seen your GP within the last year before your proposed surgery date. Pre-admission is an important part of your care. Prior to you coming into hospital, you are required to register your admission to confirm your personal details, health history, financial details and other arrangements.

This can be done by the following methods:

Complete your Pre-Admission Form Online:

To complete your admission forms online, visit our eAdmission portal
https://www.preadmit.com.au/patient/sippydownsdaysurgery/

Payment

Our reception staff will advise you of any out of pocket expenses from the hospital. You will receive separate accounts from your surgeon and anaesthetist.

You will need to pay any out-of-pocket expenses on admission. We accept cash, Visa and Mastercard.

Pre-Operative telephone call

The nurse will discuss with you:

• Any previous illnesses and operations.
• Any allergies to food or medications.
• Any special dietary requirements.
• Who is taking you home and staying with you on the night of your procedure.

This is an opportunity for you to ask any questions you have about your admission and the post-operative care that you will need. This call will take approximately 10 minutes.

If you develop a cough, cold or any other illness in the days leading up to your procedure, you should contact your surgeon and the hospital as your surgery may need to be postponed until you are well.

Your day surgery admission

Our nursing staff will prepare you for your procedure. This will include confirming your personal details and checking your consent form.

On the day of your procedure:

• Shower or bath at home – you may use deodorant, but do not use talcum powder, face creams, makeup, perfumes or after shave.
• You may wear your wedding ring but leave all other jewelry at home.
• Wear comfortable clothing.
• It is important to continue all your normal medications unless you have been instructed otherwise.
• Only bring medications with you if you have been instructed to do so.
• If you have diabetes or are taking blood thinning medication, you will need to discuss the management of your medications with your surgeon and anaesthetist.

Prior to your procedure, you will have a private consultation with the anaesthetist, who will monitor you throughout. Your anaesthetist will ask you about your general health, allergies, your current medications and any previous surgery or illnesses. You may be asked to sign a consent form for the anaesthetic.

Your procedure

The procedure will be performed under GA, IV Sedation or Local Anaesthetic.

In the operating theatre you may be aware of noises from the equipment or the voices of the staff.

Recovery

After your procedure you will be moved to a comfortable recliner chair and your wellbeing is monitored. You will be given light refreshments and when ready you and your carer will be given discharge instructions before returning home.

Post-Surgery

Allow yourself time to recover and rest during the first 24 hours.

Avoid:

• Driving a car/signing important documents.
• Drinking alcohol, smoking and recreational drugs.
• Operating machinery.
• Any strenuous activity.
• Caring for dependent children and adults.

Our commitment to you

The Sippy Downs Day Surgery was set up to offer the highest possible standard of care for our patients. If you as a patient or your family members need information or assistance in resolving issues concerning your admission, please feel free to call our Director of Nursing on 0439 249 056.

Anaesthetists And You

Anaesthetists in Australia are specialised, highly-trained doctors expert at administering pain management drugs as well as managing resuscitation and other medical emergencies.

New surgical techniques combined with modern anaesthesia means that the majority of ear, eye, nose, throat and facial surgeries are now performed during day surgery, which is preferable to overnight hospitalisation.

Various types of anaesthesia are commonly used in day surgery, including:

• Topical Anaesthesia: Topical anaesthesia covers a small surface area only and may or may not include sedative drugs. The patient remains awake and recovery is fast.
• Local Anaesthesia: Local anaesthesia causes numbness to a larger area than topical anaesthetic. The patient remains awake but comfortable, and doesn't feel any pain.
• Regional Anaesthesia: Regional anaesthesia involves a nerve block to numb a particular part of the body, avoiding the need for general anaesthetic. Similar to the above methods, the patient is awake but comfortable.
• Intravenous Sedation: To make things more pleasant for the patient, an anaesthetist may intravenously administer sedation drugs. The patient feels very relaxed and a little drowsy. Advantages of intravenous sedation includes fast recovery times, with discharge typically within an hour.
• General Anaesthesia: General anaesthetic puts the patient into a state of unconsciousness for the duration of their operation. Anaesthesia drugs are injected through a needle placed in the vein and this is combined with a mixture of gases for inhalation. The anaesthetist monitors the patient's condition closely throughout the procedure. Recovery time is longer with a general anaesthetic.
• Possible Risks of Anaesthetic You can ask your anaesthetist any questions and air any concerns before your procedure. It's important that you disclose any information that may be relevant and to follow your medical and fasting instructions. Your anaesthetist will monitor you throughout your procedure as well as afterwards to ensure your smooth recovery.
• Anaesthetic drugs are given in the smallest effective doses, however they may take a while to be eliminated from your body due to different rates of metabolism. Even if you feel fully recovered, it is imperative that you do not drive, operate machinery or sign important documents for 24 hours following your procedure.

Patient Rights And Responsibilities

• Sippy Downs Day Surgery is committed to providing the best possible health care and outcomes for each and every patient.
• We have a commitment to the Privacy Act and Principles and the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights. Anintegral part of providing this standard of care is ensuring that patients are aware of their rights and responsibilities.
• The rights of all patients at Sippy Downs Day Surgery are guarded by State and Commonwealth laws.
• Sippy Downs Day Surgery is committed to being a standard bearer and centre of excellence. To ensure the highest standards of patient care, we have a continuous process of incremental quality improvements. We continually monitor our hospital’s performance against our quality objectives.
• As part of our commitment to quality care, we welcome all compliments, suggestions and complaints.
• In the unlikely event that the care you received did not meet your expectations or go as planned, we are committed to communicating with you openly and honestly to bring the matter to a successful conclusion.

Healthcare Rights for People with Cognitive Impairment

Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights

Medical Records And Privacy

Compliments, Concerns & Complaints

As part of our commitment to provide quality care the hospital welcomes all compliments, suggestions and complaints.

Complaints may be directed to

Director of Nursing

Sippy Downs Day Surgery,

26 Central Dr,

Sippy Downs QLD 4556

Or

Contact the Office of Health Ombudsman online

Clinical Outcomes

Our day hospital is accredited for the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards and ISO9001:2015 with Certification Partner Global FZ LLC. We collect, submit and evaluate data for Day Surgery and Infection Control Clinical Indicators. Review of our data demonstrates excellent results consistent with high standards of patient safety and clinical outcomes.

We conduct quality assurance audits to measure the outcomes of clinical and business functions within the Day Hospital and to ensure compliance against policies, procedures, standards and regulations. The outcomes of these audits are evaluated by staff, doctors, consumer representatives and management to improve patient care, service delivery and quality improvement.

Improved healthcare hand hygiene is the highest priority area in Australia to reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections. Sippy Downs Day Surgery hand hygiene program has been developed to ensure that all staff and Credentialed Medical Practitioners are educated in the 5 moments for hand hygiene and comply with current hand hygiene practices.

Regular compliance audits are carried out and the results reviewed as part of our quality improvement processes and provided to the National Hand Hygiene Initiative for comparison to the national rate.

Patient Satisfaction

Quality care is the key to a positive patient experience at the Sippy Downs Day Surgery. We are extremely proud of the patient care we provide and constantly work to improve it. To check that we are delivering the quality of service we aim for, we ask for feedback from our patients. We track responses to the patient satisfaction surveys on an ongoing basis. The patient satisfaction survey offers each patient the chance to rate his or her experience with our day hospital.

Consumer Participation

Consumer Participation is of utmost importance for improving the patient journey and experience.

What is a Consumer Representative?

A patient and consumer representative is someone who:

• Wants to help improve the quality of our Day Hospital’s care for all patients and family members
• Gives feedback to the day hospital based on his or her own experiences
• Helps us plan changes to improve how we take care of patients
• Volunteers his or her time

Patient and consumer advisors provide a voice that represents all patients and families of patients who receive care at Sippy Downs Day Surgery.

They partner with Day Hospital doctors, nurses, and administrators to help improve the quality of our centre’s care for all patients and family members.

What do consumer representatives do?

• Provide input and evaluation of the safe and effective delivery of care and services
• Participate in discussion groups
• Review or help create educational or informational materials
• Interested? Contact the Director of Nursing on 0439 249 056