Standard Hospitalisation
Getting ready for your stay
Pre-admission procedure
- Complete your admission forms at reception when you go to the clinic for your pre-anaesthesia consultation or online via the clinic’s website. Pre-admission consists in completing any administrative forms thus reducing your waiting time and facilitating your admission on the day of the operation.
- Update your national health insurance card (carte vitale).
- Check with your health insurer regarding cover for the reimbursement of practitioners’ fees (surgeon and anaesthetist) and any additional room and board costs. Your health insurer will send you confirmation of coverage of all or part of these additional costs.
- Sign the surgical consent form (for minors, the authorisation must be signed by both parents)
- Sign the informed consent form (for the surgery and the anaesthetic)
- Fill in the form designating a trusted person (or medical power of attorney)
- Don’t forget to take with you:
- ID (national identity card, passport or residence permit)
- Your national health insurance card (carte vitale)
- Your medical insurance card
- The surgical consent form
- Any supporting documents that may be required in the case of a long-term illness or occupational accident
Prepare your medical records
- Bring the results of your x-rays, MRI, scans, etc.
- Bring your pre-op examination results (biology, cardiology, doppler…)
- Bring your drug prescriptions
- Bring any letters from your doctor
Prepare your personal belongings required for your stay
- Underwear
- Nightwear, slippers, dressing gown
- Day clothes, preferably comfortable clothes
- Towels and toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, razor…)
- Cases for your glasses, dentures, hearing aid…
- Something to read, music with earphones
Getting ready for your operation
Your stay in hospital may require you to carry out some procedures before coming in, which will be specified by the medical team:
- Stopping or modification of certain long-term treatments
- Pre-operative shower with a specific product
- Removal of hair from the surgical site as specified by the medical team
- Removal of nail polish and make-up that are likely to interfere with the monitoring sensors used during the anaesthetic
The day of your admission
Arrival at the clinic
You will be told at what time to arrive either during your pre-admission or by phone or text message. You will be admitted to the clinic the day before or, in some cases, the day of the operation.
Your administrative records will be checked on arrival then you will be shown to your room.
Once in your room
On your arrival, the ward nurse will explain the processes.
She will collect the various medical documents you have brought with you (x-rays, MRI, biological examinations, etc.) and check that you have signed the surgical consent form and designated a trusted person.
Finally, she will take your usual medication, which she is in charge of administrating while you are in hospital.
In some cases, examinations such as an electrocardiogram, a blood test, or additional x-rays may be carried out the day before the operation on the request of the anaesthetist or the surgeon.
Medical consultation
The day before the operation, the anaesthetist conducts a pre-operative visit to ensure that nothing new has occurred since the pre-anaesthesia consultation and that the patient’s records are complete.
Final preparations
The evening before, preparation of the surgical site is verified. The patient has a shower with an antiseptic product.
In the event of significant stress, an anxiolytic (relaxant) can be prescribed by the anaesthetist.
The patient is fasted 6 hours before the operation. They must not smoke during this fasting period.
The day of the operation
Before going to the operating department
- Another shower with an antiseptic product is sometimes requested
- You will be given a disposable hospital gown to wear in the operating department
- An identification bracelet will be attached to one of your wrists
Transfer to the operating department
A hospital porter will come and take you to the operating department where the medical team will be waiting. You will go to the operating department on foot or a trolley according to your condition and the nature of your operation.
Arrival in the operating department
On arrival, you will be met by the surgical team.
A drip will be set up.
The operating theatre charge nurse will check your identity, the nature of the operation, and the side to be operated on. She will also check that you are fasted and that you don’t have any allergies.
In some cases, the anaesthetist will insert a nerve block before the operation so that the numbness of the surgical site can be extended to decrease post-operative pain.
You will then be taken to the operating theatre and positioned on the operating table.
Anaesthesia will be initiated and the operation will be carried out.
After the operation: post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU)
After the operation, you will be taken to the post-anaesthesia care unit or recovery room where your length of stay will vary.
During your time in the recovery room, your vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation) will be monitored continuously to ensure good recovery from the anaesthetic and the operation.
The healthcare staff in the recovery room will monitor the intensity of the postoperative pain and analgesics will be administered if necessary. They will ensure recovery of motor function of the limb operated on as well as the absence of severe bleeding around the scar or drains.
When the recovery room lead anaesthetist deems possible, you will be taken back to your room on a trolley.
After the operation: return to your room
When you return to your room, you will be looked after by a nurse and an auxiliary nurse who will ensure you are comfortably settled in your bed.
Your pain will be regularly assessed. The anaesthetist in charge of postoperative pain management will prepare a variety of analgesics.
You will be able to have a drink then some food at the time specified by the anaesthetist.
The first rehabilitation session with one of the clinic’s physiotherapists sometimes takes place the day of the operation.
Your surgeon will come and see you the evening of your operation to tell you how it went and give you postoperative instructions.
The days following the procedure
- Your pain will be monitored and you will be given medication to help relieve the pain as much as possible
- The drip and any drains will be removed as soon as possible
- Postoperative wound care will be carried out by a nurse to ensure it is healing well
- You will have daily rehabilitation sessions with a physiotherapist to optimise functional recovery and rapidly regain some independence
- Your surgeon will come and see you regularly to control the progress
Your discharge
- Your discharge is a medical decision made by your surgeon
- According to the treatment plan, you will go home or to a rehabilitation centre
- When you leave the hospital, you are generally accompanied by a friend or relative, and if no one is available, by paramedics
- When you leave, you will be given:
- Your operative report
- Your discharge summary (or discharge letter)
- A prescription for medication and dressings
- A prescription for community nursing care
- A prescription for rehabilitation
- A prescription for a check-up x-ray, if necessary
- A prescription for biological examinations, if necessary
- An appointment for the follow-up consultation with your surgeon
Visits from friends and relatives
- Visits are allowed in compliance with the clinic’s rules of conduct and safety.
- Visits are allowed in the afternoon
- Visits from children under 15 years are not recommended
- Flowers are not allowed
- In some cases, and only in private rooms, a companion can stay with you for the night.
Make an appointment
please do not hesitate to contact us or make an appointment online via DoctoLib