Surgery

Improving nutrition before elective surgery can help you have better outcomes and enhance recovery after surgery. © U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

VA Fisher Houses provide a "home away from home" for Veterans, Service Members, their families, caregivers and support person during an episode of care. © VA Long Beach

Here are the steps for changing a surgical wound dressing.

Watch this to learn how to calm your mind before a procedure.

Watch this to know how you can prepare at home before surgery.

Watch this video to learn what Nothing by Mouth or NPO means and why it's important to follow your healthcare provider instructions before testing or a procedure.

Before you have surgery, you may be asked to wash your skin with a soap containing a chemical called CHG (chlorhexidine gluconate). This antiseptic eliminates many of the germs on your skin. It keeps your surgical site clean and free from infection. This video shows basic CHG showering directions. To get the full benefit, follow the directions for the specific soap you are asked to use.

Watch this to know what to expect on the day of your surgery and for the remainder of your hospital stay.

Watch this to understand your recovery from surgery at home, including pain management and signs of possible complications after your surgery.

This surgery takes an organ from a healthy person and puts it into a sick person. The two people must have blood types and tissues that are compatible. So before a transplant is done, both people must be tested to make sure they are a match.

Watch this to learn the facts behind some common concerns about hysterectomy.

Here are some tips for feeling better and getting well after surgery.

Surgery is a complex process. There's a lot you can do as a patient to help your healthcare team keep you safe. This sheet suggests steps you can take before and after surgery to help make your operation safe and successful.

No matter how your incision was closed, follow these tips to help your incision heal once you get home.

Make life easier and safer after surgery. Reduce household hazards now. By planning ahead now, you'll have less to worry about during recovery.

After surgery, there are steps you can take to help with your recovery. You may have been an inpatient (staying in the hospital overnight) or an outpatient (going home the day of surgery). While in the hospital it is important to follow instructions from your surgeon, nurse, and other healthcare providers.

A drainage tube removes fluid from around an incision. This helps prevent infection and promotes healing. Follow these instructions.

Dressing your incision helps keep it clean, dry, and infection-free. That way it will heal faster. Here are steps to follow.

Some people feel a little nauseated after surgery. This is often due to medicines, dehydration, or simply the stress of surgery. Follow these helpful tips.

You are scheduled to have surgery. The healthcare staff will try to make your stay comfortable. Use the guidelines below to remind yourself what to do before surgery.

Pain after an operation (post-op pain) is common and expected. These guidelines can help you stay as comfortable as possible.

Medicines are not the only way to manage pain after surgery. Try the following techniques.

Outpatient surgery is also called same-day or ambulatory surgery. This sheet gives you more information about how to prepare.

If your movement is limited during recovery, ask a family member or friend to help prepare your bathroom. Use the tips below as a guide to help keep you safe in the bathroom.

This sheet tells you more about surgical site infections, what hospitals are doing to prevent them, and how they are treated if they do occur. It also tells you what you can do to prevent these infections.

Most children need pain management in the hospital. Your child's health care provider will assess your child's pain and prescribe pain medication as needed. You can alert the health care team if you notice any signs of pain or discomfort in your child.

Follow these tips to help your child's incision heal as it should and prevent infection.

This sheet will help you learn what to expect after your outpatient surgery. It covers medicines, recovering at home, and follow-up care.

Here are images showing how to change the dressing on a surgical wound or incision.

Pain is expected after surgery. Know that you have a right to have this pain controlled. Managing pain helps you recover faster. Read on to learn more.

Robotic surgery doesn't mean that a machine does surgery instead of a person. It means that a surgeon uses the robotic tools to do surgery.

After any kind of surgery, many people have slow bowels and trouble urinating. This is common and lasts for a few days or so.

It's normal to feel anxious before having surgery. Here are some ways to make you feel more comfortable about your pending procedure.

Being as physically healthy as possible before surgery is important. It can help shorten your hospital stay and your total healing time.

Before your scheduled surgery, your surgical team may advise you to wash your body using a CHG skin cleanser. This helps reduce your risk for a surgical site infection.

A fingertip amputation is when the tip of the finger is cut partially or completely off. It is best to allow the wound to heal on its own.

A perianal abscess may need an incision to drain the puss from it. Antibiotics may be needed to treat the infection, as well.

A pilonidal cyst is a swelling that starts under the skin on the sacrum near the tail bone. It may look like a small dimple. Because it often has an opening to the surface, it may become infected with normal skin bacteria. Read on to learn how to care for yourself at home.

Abdominal adhesions are a common side effect of any abdominal surgery. In some cases, surgery is needed to remove the scar tissue.

Your surgeon has decided that you'll receive regional anesthesia. This sheet tells you what to expect with this type of anesthesia.

Details about what to expect when you have anesthesia.

Your anesthesiologist gives you anesthetics (medicines to keep you comfortable and decrease your awareness of surgery) and monitors your condition to keep you safe during surgery. You will have 1 of 3 kinds of anesthesia during your surgery.

Procedural sedation is medicine to ease discomfort, pain, and anxiety during a procedure. While you are under sedation, you will likely be awake. But you may not remember anything afterward.

Malignant hyperthermia is a rare reaction to certain medicines used for general anesthesia. The problem is severe and life threatening, but it can be treated.

Local anesthesia makes a part of the body numb to prevent a patient from feeling pain during a medical procedure. Local anesthesia is commonly used for many minor outpatient surgeries.

Anesthesia is the use of medications to block the pain of a medical procedure. The medications that block this pain are called anesthetics. Different forms of anesthesia are used to prepare patients for different types of procedures.

This is an injection of anesthetic. It blocks pain in a large area of your body. It doesn't put you to sleep. But along with it, we may give you medicine to relax you or put you to sleep.

CMV is a common viral infection. In most people, it doesn't cause serious symptoms. But if you've had an organ transplant, it can cause serious illness.