Health Guide for Surgical Diseases

Author: Wu Beiwen, Qian Peifen / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features:
4 Preoperative Routine Preparation
◇ Respiratory Preparation
After surgery, you may be reluctant to take deep breaths or cough due to wound pain, and the effects of anesthesia can easily lead to atelectasis and pneumonia. Therefore, you should practice deep breathing before surgery. You can follow these steps for practice: Before coughing up phlegm, gently cough a few times to loosen the phlegm, then take a deep breath and cough forcefully. While coughing, you can use both hands to push the abdominal wound toward the center to reduce pain. If you are a smoker, you must quit smoking before surgery because nicotine stimulates the respiratory tract mucosa, causing increased phlegm and airway obstruction. If you already have respiratory inflammation before surgery, you should actively treat it.
◇ Dietary Preparation
Generally, there are no restrictions on diet. You can eat more high-protein foods to enhance your immunity. However, for patients undergoing intestinal surgery, you should start eating low-fiber foods upon admission and switch to a liquid diet three days before surgery. Of course, all surgical patients should fast for 12 hours before surgery and avoid drinking fluids for 4–6 hours before surgery to prevent aspiration or inhalation pneumonia caused by nausea during anesthesia or surgery.
Liquid Diet: Rice soup, vegetable juice, fruit juice, milk, various broths, lotus root starch, steamed egg custard, etc.
Semiliquid Diet: Rice porridge, millet porridge, noodles, dumplings, soy milk, vegetable leaves, etc.
Low-fiber Diet: Dumplings, rice, noodles, fish, shrimp, meat, vegetables, vegetable juice, fresh fruits, etc.
Regular Diet: Most general foods can be consumed.
◇ Bedside Urination and Defecation Practice
Most patients have no experience with bed urination or defecation, so they may not be accustomed to this method. However, after surgery, due to surgical trauma and the effects of anesthesia, it is easy to develop constipation and urinary retention. Therefore, you should practice bed urination and defecation before surgery, 2–3 times a day.
◇ Preparation of the Surgical Area Skin
Skin preparation is an important step in preventing incision infection. One day before surgery, hair in the surgical area should be removed, and accumulated dirt should be cleared. After hair removal, take a shower to maintain skin cleanliness. The removed hair will grow back, so you don’t need to worry about its appearance. Throughout the skin preparation process, pay attention to keeping warm to prevent colds.
◇ Drug Allergy Testing
During the anesthesia process, it is impossible to determine your systemic response to drugs, so drug allergy testing must be completed before surgery. The main types of test drugs include antibiotics (e.g., penicillin) and contrast agents (e.g., iodine preparations). If you are allergic to any drug, you should inform the medical staff upon admission. During the test, describe your feelings truthfully to the doctor or nurse and do not touch the test area on your own to obtain accurate results.
◇ Crossmatching Test
A crossmatching test will be performed before surgery to determine your blood type and ensure an adequate supply of blood in the blood bank for a smooth operation. After determining your blood type, the nurse will inform you of it one day before surgery. You should remember it for future blood transfusion verification.
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