Dear Patients, Dear Parents 

In our anesthesia outpatient clinic, inpatients, pre-stationary and outpatients are examined before a planned surgical procedure and informed about the anesthesia procedure. In a confidential consultation, the patient's medical history and existing examination findings are first discussed in order to identify special risks in a timely manner and to select the most favorable anesthesia procedure for the individual patient. In any case, you should bring a list of medications and all findings (ECG, lung function, echocardiography, chest X-ray) from your attending physicians (general practitioner, lung specialist, heart specialist) to the anesthesia consultation. In this way, additional time-consuming examinations can be avoided. Based on these findings, your anesthesia risk will be assessed and the anesthesia procedure selected.

Your state of health decides on necessary additional examinations and possible therapy optimization of concomitant diseases in order to minimize possible risks and complications during surgery.

To avoid complications, it is necessary to discontinue or even change some medications prior to surgery. In consultation with your attending physician and depending on the surgical procedure, certain blood thinners are discontinued 5-10 days before surgery.

Metformin-containing medications in patients with diabetes mellitus should also be discontinued 2 days before a planned anesthetic.

Patients with heart disease, cardiac arrhythmias or elevated blood pressure should definitely continue to take your medication. Also, if you have a known seizure disorder, do not stop your medication beforehand.

Anesthesia Consultation and Rules of Conduct

Before each anesthesiological examination, you will be asked to read through an information sheet and complete the questionnaire. This information sheet prepares you for the consultation and serves as a basis for the anesthesiologist to take your medical history. The anesthesiologist will then select the optimal anesthesia procedure for your surgery. The procedure and risks of anesthesia will be discussed with you. Of course, special questions and wishes regarding the anesthesia will be addressed during this discussion.

To avoid incidents, certain rules of conduct will be discussed with you before anesthesia.

• You are not allowed to eat anything 6 hours before anesthesia. As a rule, you can eat a small meal the evening before/until midnight.
• You may consume small amounts of clear liquid (water, tea or coffee without milk) up to 2 hours beforehand.
• Breastfeeding of newborns or infants is still possible up to 4 hours before anesthesia.
• The anesthesiologist will discuss with you the use of permanent medication. If instructed, medication may be taken with a small sip of water until shortly before the operation.
• You may not smoke on the day of anesthesia.
• Jewelry, piercings and nail polish must be removed beforehand.
• Dentures and contact lenses must also be removed before the operation.

 For organizational reasons, the traditional premedication visit the evening before in the patient's room had to be replaced by a central anesthesia consultation. These consultations are the only way to prepare patients in a timely manner and to inform them about the upcoming anesthesia procedure in a patient-friendly atmosphere. Special questions can be answered and the patient's individual wishes can be addressed. All necessary information is carefully documented and passed on to the anesthesiologist who will perform your anesthesia the following day.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Your staff of the anesthesia outpatient clinic