We strive to provide you with the most information possible to improve your overall care. We know that your surgical day is a big event in your life and that is why we are committed to providing you with all the information you need to make informed decisions.
| Scheduling your Procedure | Preparing for your Surgery | Before your Surgery |
| Anesthesia | After Surgery | Info for Family |
| Insurance and Payment Questions |
Your physician's office will schedule your procedure with South Bay Surgery Center. You do not need to come into the surgery center for any reason prior to your surgery. If for some reason you need to cancel, please contact both our facility and your doctor’s office.
Before your surgery you may receive a phone call from one of our friendly nursing staff. Our staff will review you health history and answer any questions you may have about your particular procedure.
It is essential to the success of your surgery that you follow any instructions our nurses and/or your physician may give you. See the link above to direct you to our “Pre Op Instructions.”
Please come to South Bay Surgery Center at the time discussed in your PreOp phone call with one of our staff. After registering, kick back, pick up a magazine, and wait in our waiting room until the nursing staff calls your name to bring you into the PreOp area.
Once in our PreOp room, a nurse will take your pulse, blood pressure, and temperature and review with you your health history including whether you have any allergies.
Next, the anesthesiologist will meet with you. He/She will review your medical history, discuss the anesthesia plan and answer any questions. At this time, the nurse will gently start an intravenous (IV) line. Should you have eaten prior to surgery, your procedure will be cancelled.
Who will perform my Anesthesia care?
We are contracted with Coast Anesthesia. They are a local group from San Jose that are a dream to work with because they truly care about YOU – the patient – and have a great working relationship with our physicians (which is very important as they have to work together for your procedure). For more information about Coast Anesthesia, feel free to contact them at: 1-866-288-0410 and ask for Coast Anesthesia Information or visit their website at www.coastanesthesia.com.
Anesthesia keeps you pain free during surgery. It can cause loss of feeling or sensation during the operation with or without loss of consciousness. Your surgeon and your anesthesiologist will discuss the type of anesthesia that is appropriate for your surgery but we generally use 2 main kinds of anesthesia for the cases performed here at South Bay:
Local Anesthesia:
Local anesthesia involves the injection of local anesthetic drugs. You remain awake and alert during the procedure, but the part of your body that will be operated upon is made numb to pain. This loss of pain sensation is produced by directly injecting the area to be treated with numbing medication.
General Anesthesia:
General anesthesia puts the entire body "to sleep" for surgery. You will be given a drug which will make you drift off in a pleasant, relaxed manner. You will fall asleep and lose awareness of what is going on around you. Once you are asleep, the second stage of your anesthetic keeps you asleep for the duration of your surgery, however short or long. This is done in a variety of ways. You may breathe anesthetic gases (called "inhalation agents") or a combination of anesthetic drugs may be injected intravenously as often as necessary. Individual anesthetic needs vary from one patient to the next and your team has the knowledge and expertise to decide which agents will work best for you.
Immediately after your surgery, you will be moved to the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) where you will be carefully monitored by members of our nursing staff. Recovery time ranges from 20 minutes to an hour. Your vital signs will be continuously monitored. Your time in the PACU will vary depending on both how quickly your pain is controllable and how quickly you feel ready to be discharged home.
When you are ready to go home, the nurse will review discharge instructions with you and your responsible party that will drive you home. Instructions will include information on wound care, bathing and activity restrictions, diet, and symptoms to report to your physician. You will receive a copy of the discharge instructions for your reference at home, and our staff will escort you to your car where your ride will take you home for some rest! The quicker you are able to become mobile and return to your home environment, the more rapid your recovery.
We invite your family to stay at the surgery center while you are having surgery. Regardless of what kind of anesthetic you receive, you will need someone to pick you up and drive you home. We have a waiting room complete with magazines and children’s books for your convenience. We also have a nice little courtyard with benches outside where you can sit and soak up the sun while waiting. And if you just can’t sit still for that long, we’d be happy to take your cell phone number and direct you to one of Morgan Hill’s charming coffee shops.
Insurance and Payment Questions
All of our billing, coding, and collections is done through our outside management company, MedBridge Development. They are a professional operation down in Santa Barbara that is on-call to answer any and all patient questions. Please call 1-888-282-7472 and follow the prompts to get to a representative that can help answer all of your insurance and payment questions. As we communicate with them regarding all our scheduling on a daily basis, they know who you are and most likely have already contacted your insurance company if you’ve scheduled a case here at South Bay Surgery Center. So feel free to call with any questions or concerns.
And please let us know here at South Bay if there’s anything that they couldn’t answer and we’ll be sure to follow up for you. Insurance issues and copays can get quite complicated but MedBridge is here to take away any confusion so that your all around experience here at South Bay Surgery Center can be that much more enjoyable.