Post-Procedure

You will be moved to our fully equipped post-anesthesia care unit where you will remain under close observation until you meet the discharge criteria. Although the length of stay in the post-anesthesia care unit varies according to the type of procedure, most patients are discharged within 2 hours. Cataract patients have an average recovery time of 15 minutes. Endoscopy patients have an average recovery time of 30 minutes.

After IV sedation or general anesthesia, you will not be able to drive yourself home safely. Your driver will need to be 18 years of age or older.

Your physician will provide discharge instructions regarding diet, rest and medications. Lakeland Surgical & Diagnostic Center will also provide you a written summary of these instructions.

Plan to have a responsible adult with you for 24 hours.

• Follow your physician’s instructions regarding showering and bathing.
• Keep dressing clean and dry.
• Limit visitors, especially anyone showing signs of illness, such as a cold.
• Limit pet encounters: Do not sleep with pets, and avoid cleaning litter boxes, bird cages and fish tanks.
• Cover furniture where you may sit or lie down with a clean sheet.
• Refrain from swimming until cleared by your physician.
• Smoking is known to increase the incidence of infection; therefore, it is strongly recommended that you refrain from smoking.
• Call your physician immediately if you have any signs of infection such as fever or redness, pain, swelling, warmth or drainage at the incision site.

A nurse from Lakeland Surgical & Diagnostic Center will attempt to contact you within a day or two after your visit to check on you. The nurse who contacts you will not have any test or lab results. These results are made available to your physician. For privacy and confidentiality reasons, Lakeland Surgical & Diagnostic Center does not leave personal information on answering machines.

If you have additional questions regarding your payments or insurance claim, please contact the Accounts Receivable Department at 863.683.2428, Option 6, or [email protected].