Information for your visit

Yes, at Providence Hospital, an anesthesiologist or CRNA will routinely provide your anesthesia services in the operating room.

Yes. You may call the scheduling office and request a specific anesthesiologist or CRNA to render your care. We ask that you give us three selections to increase our chances of providing a selected physician for your care. On any given day, we have people on vacation, recovering from an over-night call, or people requested to serve a surgeon on a special case where their particular skills are needed. We schedule a vacation, call coverage, and cases, months in advance. Giving us three choices will help us match your need with a provider of choice. You may call the Providence operating room scheduling office to indicate these choices at (907) 261-4088.

We cannot guarantee that your choices will be available, but will do our best to try and match you with one of your choices.

Yes, a member of our anesthesia team will be with you during your entire time under anesthesia. Many physiologic changes take place under anesthesia and we keep them with you to monitor those changes and your care.

Yes, almost all patients need an IV for surgery and anesthesia to give you fluids and medications. A topical anesthetic may be used to minimize discomfort.

A general anesthetic involves putting the entire body into a state of unconsciousness for the period of surgery. This is a controlled unconsciousness. The medications used to induce general anesthesia, affect all body organs. They are powerful and complex. Getting each patient, as an individual, to the right level of unconsciousness, while minimizing side effects, requires continuous monitoring and adjustments by your anesthesiologist or CRNA. The induction of anesthesia involves the injection of IV meds or anesthesia gases by mask to quickly and smoothly induce an unconscious state. The maintenance of anesthesia during the surgery involves the use of anesthesia gases and IV medications to keep a patient unconcious. They will be continuously monitoring your vital signs and anesthetic depth during this time.

Yes, in most circumstances, you will. General anesthetics inhibit our normal ability to breathe and cough on our own. When general anesthesia is used, assistance is needed for the purposes of breathing. This involves the use of a “breathing tube” placed in your trachea. These tubes are usually placed and removed while the patient is asleep. You should have no memory of the tube or any pain involved with its placement, but some patients may have a sore throat after surgery.

There can be several types of side effects from general anesthesia. Their likelihood of occurrence, however, depends on your medical condition, type of surgery performed, your gender, type of anesthetic agents used, and many other factors. Your anesthesiologist will discuss these issues with you prior to surgery in detail. Most commonly, we will only see minor side effects, if any at all.

Regional anesthesia involves making a particular region of your body insensitive to pain or “numb”. This is often referred to as getting a “block”. The injection of a local anesthetic near a nerve or a group of nerves accomplishes this. With this technique, a limb or portion of your body can be made numb and insensitive to pain. In the operating room, this is a commonly used alternative to general anesthesia. Most patients are familiar with this type of anesthesia on a smaller scale from their trips to the dentist.
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Although there are many types of regional anesthesia, the most common ones are spinal, epidural, and arm and shoulder blocks.

Particular surgical procedures are good candidates for blocks (i.e. carpal tunnel release and total knee replacements) – Certain medical conditions of the patient (i.e. severe emphysema is a reason to be cautious of general anesthesia)
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• Patient preference
• Avoidance of general anesthesia (i.e. concern of post operative nausea)
• Avoidance of negative effects of general anesthesia to certain body organs (i.e. a patient with heart disease)
• Prolonged pain relief after surgery

These are two of the common types of regional anesthesia. These anesthetics are used to “numb” the lower half of the body for many surgical procedures. Both types of regional anesthesia involve the placement of a needle, and sometimes a small plastic tube (catheter), into the lower back region. After this is done, local anesthetics are injected to achieve numbness of the desired region. The numbness can last varying amounts of time based upon the amount and the type of anesthetic used.

First the proper monitors will be placed, such as an EKG and blood pressure cuff. An IV will be placed. You are then placed in a sitting position or on your side and sterile drapes are placed on the lower back. A local anesthetic (numbing medicine) is then placed in the area by the use of a small needle. Once the area is numb, a spinal or epidural needle is then advanced to the proper position while you stay still.
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After the spinal or epidural is given, a warming sensation is initially felt and later numbness in the lower half of the body. The extent of the numbness and the duration is based on the type of surgery planned and the medications used. The patient also temporarily loses some muscle strength in the area affected.

No.

As with general anesthesia, there are several risks that could occur. However, we rarely see more than a few. These include, but are not limited to, a minor backache and an occasional headache. We will discuss the potential side effects with you.

No, some surgeries are not possible under these types of anesthesia. Other reasons may preclude a patient from regional anesthesia (i.e. certain bleeding disorders and certain infections).

You will get to decide among the alternatives available for your specific procedure.

We will assist you with this decision. After we perform an assessment of you as a patient, your medical history, and a physical examination, he or she will explain the recommended choice and alternatives for your anesthetic plan for you and the surgery that is scheduled. The length and type of surgery will guide the recommendations for your anesthetic plan and the associated risks and benefits. We have years of training and experience in delivering anesthesia services to help us serve you and guide this decision. It is recommended that you follow their guidance. It is ultimately your choice.