Learn More About Anesthesia

Our patients' safety and comfort are our primary goals. We use a wide variety of state-of-the-art techniques to provide a safe and comfortable surgical experience. We are happy to provide you with skilled and professional anesthetic services and advice throughout your surgical experience and hospital stay. Listed below are resources to help you prepare for your surgery.

Your Anesthesia Care
This concise overview describes the preoperative consultation, guidelines for eating and drinking before surgery, the three basic categories of anesthesia, and what to expect after surgery. (If you are unable to view this document, you will need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Understanding Anesthesia
You can explore anesthesia topics from the Health Encyclopedia in more detail, including: Preparing for Anesthesia, What Happens During Anesthesia, Recovering from Anesthesia, and Frequently Asked Questions.

Anestesia para las cirugías
Anesthesia information available in Spanish

Preoperative Fasting Guidelines for Adults and Children
General guidelines for fasting (going without food or drink) before elective surgery.

Preparing For Successful Surgery
Using guided imagery techniques to prepare for surgery can help decrease anxiety and pain while speeding up your recovery. This section includes information on how to obtain a program of guided imagery on CD for use before and after surgery.

Frequently Asked Questions
Questions and answers on common issues relating to anesthesia and surgery.

Additional Resources

Disclaimer
If you think you have a MEDICAL OR PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY or go to the nearest hospital. DO NOT attempt to access emergency care through this web site. An emergency medical condition is a medical or psychiatric condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in any of the following: serious jeopardy to your health, serious impairment to your bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part. An emergency medical condition is also "active labor," which means a labor when there is inadequate time for safe transfer to a Plan hospital (or designated hospital) before delivery or if a transfer poses a threat to the health of the member or unborn child.

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