Your admission to the short stay unit
Most patients after shoulder surgery are discharged on the same day or may stay in overnight for monitoring. Your care provider will therefore admit you on their day surgery unit or short stay unit.
You will be admitted on the day of your surgery.
As your procedure will be carried out under a general anaesthetic, you will be given specific instructions about when you can last eat and drink. Usually, you can last eat solid food six hours before your admission and you can drink clear, non-fizzy and non-alcoholic, drinks up to 2 hours before your admission.
Once admitted on the unit, the nurses will carry out some basic observations and prepare you for surgery.
You will be asked to change into a theatre gown, stockings and pants.
Jewelry and make up should be removed.
An escort from theatre will re-check your details and escort you to the anaesthetic room.
You will meet the Anaesthetist and the anaesthetic assistant and they will take over your care.
Your procedure will be done under General Anaesthetic.
You will also have a nerve block - an injection that temporarily numbs the nerves supplying the shoulder and arm. It is also used in order to provide good post operative pain relief.
On your return you can expect to have an intravenous cannula in your arm.
Your arm will be in a sling when you wake up in recovery.
Your arm will feel numb immediately after surgery and you will have very little movement which will last for a few hours following the surgery.
Your arm will feel numb for a few hours post surgery due to the nerve block.
References
NHS, 2021. General Anaesthesia. Accessed 30 September 2022 https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/general-anaesthesia/
NHS, 2019. Going into hospital as a patient. Accessed 30 September 2022 - https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/hospitals/going-into-hospital/going-into-hospital-as-a-patient/
Royal College of Anaesthesia (2019) Patient Information. Accessed 2 October 2022 https://rcoa.ac.uk/patient-information/patient-information-resources/anaesthesia-risk