It is a simple, straight-forward process during which your health history is gathered and you are informed of important information regarding your surgery or procedure. A completed screen will assure that you are fully prepared for your surgery.

You will receive instructions from your Surgeon’s Office about how to begin the process. Then, you have three choices:

1. You may go online to create your own personal medical health history. A complete health history takes about 15 minutes to complete.
2. If you do not have internet access, you may contact a SurgiScreen staff member at 888-477-6902. He or she will ask you a series of questions about your health and your social environment.
3. If you do not immediately complete your own health history, you will receive a phone call from the SurgiScreen screening department to help you.

Because anesthesia and surgery affect your entire system, it is important for your anesthesia care team to know as much about you as possible. Your anesthesiologist must be very familiar with your medical condition so that the best anesthetic and medical care may be provided throughout your surgery.

Cigarettes and alcohol affect your body just as strongly, and sometimes more than any of the prescription drugs you may be taking. Because of their various effects on your lungs, heart, liver and blood, cigarette or alcohol consumption can change the way an anesthetic will work during surgery. It is critical to let your anesthesiologist know about your consumption of these substances.

Nearer the date of your surgery, you may be telephoned by a nurse from the SurgiScreen staff. He or she will review some of the questions about your health history and perhaps give you further instructions.

This will depend on where you are having your surgery. You may be notified either by your surgeon’s office or the booking office at the hospital or surgical center.

The SurgiScreen medical staff will make that decision upon the review of your online health history or at the conclusion of your pre-surgical telephone screening. Based on the assessment, we can help you make any necessary arrangements.

Someone on our screening staff will make arrangements for you to have them done three to five business days before your surgery at your local hospital lab or other lab facility.

Most of the time, yes. But sometimes, the anesthesiologist may determine that you need further tests or that you need to be seen by another specialist. In this case, your surgeon or the SurgiScreen staff will make necessary arrangements.

We strive to maintain your surgical date by determining these needs early in the screening process. In the event that further exams are necessary, and if there is not enough time before your surgery to complete the necessary tests or consultations, your surgery would then be rescheduled as soon as possible.

Specific instructions will depend on where you are having your surgery and what you are having done. If you complete your health history online, you will automatically be given specific instructions that you can print at that time. Further instructions may come from either your surgeon’s office or the SurgiScreen staff. You may also receive a phone call and/or email a day or two before your surgery reminding you of the important instructions, what medication you should take beforehand, when you should suspend food and liquid intake and when you should come into the hospital.

From your surgeon’s office or from the SurgiScreen staff.