Precautions after anesthesia surgery

Many people will be given anesthesia during surgery, which will help the surgery go smoothly and achieve the desired results. However, in addition to precise dosage of anesthesia, postoperative care is also very important. Slightly improper handling may not only worsen the patient's condition, but may also damage the patient's brain function, and the consequences are difficult to estimate. In response to this issue, this article introduces the more common precautions after anesthesia surgery.

1. Maintain a good posture after surgery.

After the operation, patients undergoing medium or minor operations are generally sent back to their original wards, while patients undergoing major or critical operations are sent to the postoperative ward (intensive care unit or observation room). Patients undergoing general anesthesia are not awake yet and should lie flat without a pillow, with their head tilted to one side to prevent saliva or vomitus from being inhaled into the respiratory tract and causing respiratory tract infection. Patients who receive epidural or spinal anesthesia should lie flat for 6 to 12 hours after surgery to prevent postoperative headaches. After neck, chest, and abdominal surgery, a semi-sitting or semi-recumbent position is often adopted. Patients who have undergone spinal surgery should sleep on a hard bed. Patients who have undergone limb surgery must elevate the operated limb or apply traction.

2. Assist medical staff in observing body temperature, pulse, respiration and blood pressure.

If you feel unwell, have a fever or a rapid heartbeat, you should report it to your doctor or nurse. Here I want to tell you a little common sense. Within 3 to 5 days after surgery, the body temperature is usually around 38°C. This is inevitable. It is called postoperative reaction fever, or absorption heat. Don't be nervous about it.

3. Strengthen dietary coordination. After surgery, you should strengthen your nutrition to facilitate your recovery.

For general surgeries, patients can eat after the surgery. For patients undergoing abdominal surgery, they can only eat liquid food after the intestinal motility is restored and bowel movements (i.e., farting) occur. For patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery, gastrointestinal decompression should be performed first, and they should fast at the same time. They can only eat liquid food after the gastrointestinal decompression is stopped, and then slowly return to a normal diet. After major surgery or surgery under general anesthesia, there is often a short-term decrease in digestive function, loss of appetite, and even nausea and vomiting, and they can request an infusion. In severe cases, the doctor will insert a gastric tube and inject liquid food through the tube.

4. Assist medical staff in strictly managing postoperative wounds.

Do not move around, do not remove the gauze covering the wound at will, and do not touch the wound with your hands or clean it with water. Keep the wound clean and dry. If you accidentally wet or contaminate the gauze, you should ask the doctor or nurse to replace it to prevent the incision from becoming infected and festering. If you find redness or swelling around the wound or bleeding, you should tell the doctor or nurse immediately and try to get timely and appropriate treatment.

5. Early activity is required after surgery.

Depending on the severity of the surgery and the postoperative condition, try to get out of bed and move around as early as possible with the doctor's permission. This is very beneficial for increasing breathing depth, promoting blood circulation, restoring gastrointestinal function, and increasing appetite; it also plays a positive role in preventing complications and promoting wound healing. For example, after abdominal surgery, you should get out of bed or do some activities in bed 2 to 3 days after the operation to prevent abdominal distension and intestinal adhesions. Patients with excessive phlegm should turn over more often and press the wound with their hands to assist in coughing and expectoration to prevent lung infection. Obese patients should move their limbs more to prevent venous thrombosis.

6. Know the best time to remove stitches.

The time for removing stitches after surgery depends on the location of the surgery. For general surgery, stitches should be removed 5 to 7 days after surgery; for surgery on the lower abdomen and perineum, the time for stitch removal should be appropriately extended; for surgery on the upper abdomen, chest, back and buttocks, stitches should be removed 7 to 9 days after surgery; for surgery on the limbs, stitches should be removed 10 to 12 days after surgery, and for surgery on the joints and their vicinity, it is more appropriate to remove stitches 14 days after surgery; for full-thickness skin transplantation, stitches should be removed 12 to 14 days after surgery; for the elderly, weak, anemic or those with complications, the time for stitch removal should be appropriately extended.

7. Other matters needing attention.

Some patients are not used to lying in bed to urinate after surgery, or they cannot urinate due to impaired urination reflex after spinal anesthesia. Therefore, those who need to stay in bed for a long time after surgery should practice urinating in bed before surgery. If the condition permits, the patient can be assisted to sit up, kneel or stand to urinate. Hot compresses on the abdomen or acupuncture can also be used to assist urination. If the above measures are ineffective and you are still unable to urinate 8 to 12 hours after surgery, you should request catheterization. For various catheters worn after surgery, care should be taken to keep them unobstructed to prevent them from folding, becoming blocked or falling off. The body's resistance is relatively low after surgery, so you should keep warm and prevent colds. Patients undergoing outpatient surgery should rest for a while in the outpatient clinic after the operation, ask the doctor about the time for follow-up visits, dressing changes, and suture removal, and go to the hospital for follow-up visits and treatment on time. After discharge, if you find that the surgical incision is split, bleeding, or in severe pain after the stitches are removed, you should go to the hospital for examination and treatment immediately.