Preparation for Hospital Admission, Operation or Examination
Upon hospitalization
You may be admitted to hospital for in-house treatment following a consultation with one of the specialists in our consultancies. The consultation could be either scheduled or on emergency. If it is a scheduled consultation, we advise you to book a consultation in advance at 40-36-100. The consultation can be performed based on Referral No 3 of the National Health Insurance Fund or to be carried out as paid consultancy. If you have additional health insurance, your Health Insurance Fund may cover the expenses for your consultation.
We recommend that on the day scheduled for hospital admission you arrive at 08.30 a.m. in front of the respective consultancy. You should carry with yourself:
• an ID (a personal card or a passport);
• personal effects (hygiene kit, a towel, cutlery, a cup and slippers);
• the complete medical documentation related to the actual disease.
It is best if you have not eaten anything, which will facilitate the respective laboratory tests. If you are to undergo an operation or an intervention that requires аnesthesia, you should not drink anything, either.
On the day of your operation:
• You should not eat or drink anything at least 6 hours before being given the anesthesia. If you have food or liquid in your stomach during anesthesia it may regurgitate to the throat and from there go into the lungs, which could lead to their severe impairment.
• If you receive medication on a daily basis, you should take it on the day of the operation, too (with a little bit of liquid), unless your anesthesiologist or surgeon tells otherwise. The medication that affects the coagulation (anticoagulants, aspirin) should be avoided on the day of the operation.
• If you do not feel well on the day of the operation, you should tell your attending physicians’ team.
• Your anesthesiologist will talk to you before the operation. You are going to discuss possible types of anesthesia, and the benefit-risk features they have. You will decide together what is best for you. Nothing will be administered to you before you have been informed and before you have given your own consent.
In the operating theatre: A representative of the Department will accompany you to the operating theatre. If you feel nervous, a sedative will be given to you even before you start for the operating theatre. An anesthesiology nurse will welcome you to the operating theatre. She will help you make yourself comfortable on the operating table and will connect you to monitors that will follow-up your heart beat and blood pressure. The operation can begin only after the anesthesiologist makes sure complete anesthesia has been achieved.
Clinical Laboratory Tests
If you wish to get viable results from the clinical laboratory tests, you should keep in mind the following:
• We suggest that you go to the laboratory in the morning hours (11.00 a.m. at the latest). It is recommended that you do not eat, drink or take medication over the 12 hours preceding the examination.
Exception – emergency and urgent conditions that have been judged by a physician as such!
• For a blood glucose profile examination the first visit should not be later than 8.00 a.m.
• For the lipid profile examination there should be a 12-hour fasting period, with the preceding dinner being a light one and poor in lipids.
• For hormonal (thyroid gland) examinations – the substitution therapy, if available, should be administered after the taking of the blood sample. Coffee, tea and cigarettes are forbidden prior to the investigation.
• The sex hormones examination should observe strictly the requirements related to the monthly period.
• For urine examination – the first morning micturition should be examined (it has bigger concentration and the results are more feasible) from middle flow and after careful hygienic care. Ladies do not give urine during monthly period and up to two days after that.
Microbiology Laboratory Tests
The patients of the microbiology laboratory have to follow the guidelines of the attending physicians and the laboratory requirements for correct and timely sampling and delivery of the material for microbiological examination for the sake of results’ feasibility:
1. Throat secretions should be collected by the attending physician or the microbiologist only in the morning hours before brushing the teeth, before receiving any food, drinks, etc., as well as 3 days after completion of antibacterial treatment (if relevant).
2. Urine should be collected in a sterile utensil (bought at a pharmacy) immediately after getting up and a thorough washing with soap and water. A small amount of the middle portion should be collected. It is recommended that the previous micturition had taken place at least 3-4 hours before the described procedure.
3. Eye secretions are sampled by the attending physician or the microbiologist in the morning hours before washing the eyes.
4. Samples from the reproductive system are collected by a specialist after mandatory washing of the genitalia.
All samples are delivered at the laboratory as soon as possible with caution for overheating or overcooling them.