Surgery

Welcome to Surgical Services!

Here is some information that will help you prepare for your surgery and will introduce you to the care units that you may visit during your stay.

The Surgical Program brings together multidisciplinary staff and dynamic physicians providing committed to providing care that is:

  • Patient-centred;
  • High-quality, a mark of excellence.

Your comments are very important to us. They allow us to improve our service. Thank you for filling the care evaluation questionnaire.

Have a good stay on the Surgery Department of the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre.

You are having general surgery.

Preoperative assessment

Pre-Surgery Clinic

Pre-surgery assessment is the first step in preparing for surgery. Depending on the type of surgery you are having and your health condition, you will receive a phone call from a nurse or an appointment to meet the nurse at the clinic.

Please allow at least an hour for the phone call and two to four hours if you have to go to the clinic. During your visit, you may see an anesthetist or other health care professional, like a physiotherapist, for example.

It is important that you have all your medications with you for the telephone call or clinic visit, including vitamins and natural products.

If you have an appointment at the Pre-Surgery Clinic, go to the second floor of the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre.

Note: Follow all the directions you receive after your pre-surgery assessment carefully, or your surgery may be cancelled.

The assessment is done by a nurse and includes:

  • A review of the questionnaire you filled in at the surgeon’s (physician’s) office;
  • A review of your allergies;
  • A review of your medications;
  • A review of your previous illnesses;
  • An explanation of the directions that you have to follow for your particular surgery;
  • Laboratory tests (blood tests), depending on your health condition, and certain other tests (x-rays, electrocardiogram, etc.), if needed.

Preparations for surgery

Here are the preparations you need to make the night before your operation:

  • Do not smoke or drink alcohol;
  • Remove all your makeup and nail polish; 
  • If you have artificial nails, remove them from your little fingers and little toes;
  • Remove all your jewellery, including body piercings;
  • Take a bath or shower (the night before or morning of your surgery) without using scented products;
  • Wash your hair and do not use hair spray;
  • Fast after midnight (no food, no liquids, no candy, no gum);
  • If the nurse at the Pre-Surgery Clinic explained that a particular step is required to prepare you for your surgery, follow his or her directions;
  • If you are to be admitted the day prior to your surgery, call the Admitting Office at 862-4102 between 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. to check whether a bed is available.

Here are the preparations you need to make the morning of your operation:

  • Fast;
  • Take only the medications that the nurse at the Pre-Surgery Clinic authorized you to take;
  • Have a family member or loved one accompany you;
  • Bring all your medications, or an up-to-date list of them, with you;
  • Bring your Medicare card.

Come to the Admitting Office (on the first floor of the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre) at the time you were given. A staff member will direct you to Day Surgery or Same Day Admission Surgery. 

If you have to be at the hospital before 7:30 a.m., go to the Admitting Office in the Emergency Department (on the first floor) and tell the staff that you are there.

What happens the day of the surgery

After admission, you will be directed to the unit that will prepare you for your surgery. This will be either Day Surgery (if you are to be discharged from hospital on the day of your surgery) or Same Day Admission Surgery (if you will have to stay in hospital for a few days after your surgery).

Day Surgery

This unit has 15 stretchers and is on the first floor of the hospital. Surgeries are done in a comfortable, safe environment and patients go home the day of the surgery.

After your surgery, you will be taken to the Recovery Room (post-anesthesia room) before returning to Day Surgery.

Same Day Admission Surgery

This unit has four stretchers and is on the third floor (3C) of the hospital.

You can stay home until the day scheduled for your surgery, meaning that you will only be admitted to the hospital the day of your surgery. After your surgery, you will be taken to the Recovery Room (post-anesthesia room) before going to a Surgical Unit or to the Medical/Surgical Intensive Care Unit if needed.

What happens on the unit before surgery

  • The unit nurse will welcome you and answer your questions.
  • The nurse will ask you a few questions about your health condition and will check your blood pressure, pulse, temperature, respiration, and weight.
  • You will be asked to undress and put on a hospital gown.
  • Depending on the type of surgery, a solution may be applied to your skin to disinfect it.
  • You may also be given an IV.
  • Before being taken to the operating room, you will have to remove your dentures, partial denture, and glasses.

Surgical Suite

The Surgical Suite is on the first floor of the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre and has seven operating rooms. Patients are admitted to the Surgical Suite from Day Surgery, Same Day Admission Surgery, a nursing unit, or Emergency.

Surgical Suite team

A multidisciplinary team made up of surgical specialists, anesthetists, nurses, licensed practical nurses, respiratory therapists, attendants, and clerks works together to provide high-quality care and high-tech services.

What can you expect in the operating room?

In the operating room, you will be welcomed by a nurse who will do certain checks. You will also see the anesthetist, who will check your state of health and explain the type of anesthesia that you are going to receive, either:

  • General;
  • Regional;
  • Local.

The type of anesthesia is chosen based on your health condition and the nature of your operation.

In the operating room, all the staff wear a gown, a mask, a cap, and gloves. This type of clothing is required to maintain a sterile environment.

When your surgery is over, you will be taken to the Recovery Room, where you will be cared for until you wake up.

General definitions of the types of anesthesia
 
General anesthesia: You are completely asleep. You are not aware of your environment. You do not feel anything.

Regional anesthesia: This refers to spinal or epidural anesthesia, meaning that only part of your body is asleep or frozen (from the waist to the toes). You are conscious during surgery but you do not feel anything at the site of the operation.

Local anesthesia: Only the site of the operation is frozen.

Recovery Room

The Recovery Room is a specialized area where the patient leaving the operating room can wake up in a safe environment.

You will wake up progressively under the watchful eye of nurses working closely with the anesthetists. You will receive high-quality, humane, sympathetic care. You will have to spend about one to two hours in the Recovery Room, but this may vary depending on your surgery and your health condition.

Where is the Recovery Room?

The Recovery Room is on the first floor of the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre, near the Surgical Suite.

Your loved ones can wait for you in the waiting room near the Surgical Suite and Day Surgery.

If your family have questions while waiting, they can ask the Day Surgery receptionist. However, the hospital receptionist cannot transfer phone calls directly to the Recovery Room.

Recovery Room rules

Visits are not allowed in the Recovery Room but exceptions can be made (for example, for a patient with special needs). If this applies to your situation, talk to the anesthetist about it before your surgery.

No food or drink is allowed in the Recovery Room.

What can you expect in the Recovery Room?

When you wake up, you could be cold or shivering, have blurred vision, have a dry mouth, feel discomfort in your throat, and perceive sounds as louder. All these reactions are normal.

The Recovery Room is a hive of activity. You will hear noises from equipment, other patients waking up, and relaxing music being played to ease the transition from being under anesthesia to being awake.

You will be monitored closely and a nurse will check your respiration, pulse, temperature, dressings, etc., regularly.

If you feel nausea, pain, or discomfort, tell the nurse. You are the best person to assess your pain! As soon as you wake up, the nurses will ask you to describe the intensity of your pain on a scale from 0 to 10 (where 0 means no pain and 10 means severe, unbearable pain). This will allow the nurses to give you the appropriate medications based on the various possible methods of relieving your pain. 

We encourage you to do the prescribed breathing and circulatory exercises. Try to cough regularly.

When you are in the Recovery Room, staff may hook you up to:

  • An oxygen mask;
  • A nasal cannula;
  • An oxygen saturation monitor on your finger.

Depending on the nature of your surgery, you could be hooked up to other devices, including:

  • A catheter to drain urine from your bladder;
  • A nasogastric tube to remove liquid and gas from your stomach;
  • A heart monitor to assess your heart rhythm;
  • A warming blanket (“bear hugger”) to normalize your body temperature.

When you are awake enough, you will be transferred to Day Surgery or your room on a nursing unit to begin your convalescence.

Pain relief

There are different ways to relieve pain.

  • Intermittent analgesic dosing
    This involves the administration of medication, by pill or injection, that is prescribed as needed. When you start to feel pain, you have to tell the nursing staff, who will assess your pain and administer a dose of analgesic.
  • Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA)
    This involves the administration of pain medication through a pump attached to your IV. With a PCA pump, you control when you get the medication by simply pressing a button. The medication is administered immediately and acts rapidly. You will keep the PCA pump for 24 to 72 hours, as prescribed by the anesthetist. The nursing staff will continuously assess the effectiveness of the analgesic used.
  • Analgesia infusion (peridural or nerve block)
    This involves an infusion set up by the anesthetist. The analgesic is administered continuously via catheter to relieve your pain. You will be questioned regularly about your pain and about the strength and sensitivity of the limb(s) in which the medication is administered.
  • Epidural (spinal) analgesia
    This involves the administration of analgesia started by the anesthetist in the Surgical Suite. A small tube will be inserted in your back, beside your spinal cord, through which the prescribed perfusion is infused. The nursing staff will closely monitor the effectiveness of analgesia and will frequently monitor feeling and sensation in your legs. You may feel tingling in your legs; that is normal. Depending on the physician’s prescription, you will receive epidural analgesia for 12 to 72 hours.

Welcome to 4A

Unit 4A, on the 4th floor, is a 30-bed unit for these types of surgery:

  • General;
  • Bariatric;
  • Urological;
  • Gynecological;
  • Thoracic;
  • Vascular.

Philosophy of the unit

Staff on Unit 4A are committed to providing high-quality perioperative and medical care. Care is provided in collaboration with the members of the multidisciplinary team, patients, and their families in order to:

  • Restore patients’ health, whatever their age, gender, language, race, culture, or beliefs;
  • Promote independence, with the help of the multidisciplinary team and community organizations, to allow patients to return to the community;
  • Respect the right to information and education.

Nurse Manager
Micheline Doucette
862-4809

Nurse Advisor
Christina LeBlanc
862-4287

Nurses, Enterostomal Therapists
Sylvie Ruest-Levesque 862-4160
Monique Baxter 866-4667

If you have questions about your hospitalization, do not hesitate to contact us.

Surgeons

  • General, thoracic, vascular, and bariatric surgery
    • Dr. Sylvain Beausoleil
    • Dr. Michel Bourgoin
    • Dr. Tina Comeau
    • Dr. Robert Deslauriers
    • Dr. Lan Vinh Do
    • Dr. Jocelyne Hébert
    • Dr. Christelle Thériault
  • Urology
    • Dr. Luc Boudreau
    • Dr. Guy Breault
    • Dr. Marc Savoie
  • Gynecology
    • Dr. Karine Arsenault
    • Dr. Nathalie McLaughlin
    • Dr. Sylvie Nadeau
    • Dr. Alfred Robichaud
    • Dr. Polyanna Katsafourou
  • Gynecologic oncology
    • Dr. Réjean Savoie
    • Dr. Carole Williams
    • Dr. Robyn Comeau

Welcome to 4E

Unit 4E, on the 4th floor, is for orthopedic, plastic, and otorhinolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) surgery. It has 29 beds.

Philosophy of the unit

Staff on Unit 4E are committed to providing high-quality perioperative and medical care. Care is provided in collaboration with members of the multidisciplinary team, patients, and their families in order to:

  • Restore patients’ health, whatever their age, gender, language, race, culture or beliefs;
  • Promote independence, with the help of the multidisciplinary team and community organizations, to allow patients to return to the community;
  • Respect the right to information and education.

Nurse Manager
Natasha Poirier
862-4805

Clinical Nurse Specialist
Guy Cormier
862-4516

If you have questions about your hospitalization, do not hesitate to contact us at the numbers above.

Surgeons

  • Orthopedics
    • Dr. Germain Blando
    • Dr. Luc Bourque
    • Dr. Hervé David
    • Dr. Mark MacDonald
    • Dr. Michel-Alexandre LeBreton
  • Otorhinolaryngology
    • Dr. Marie-Josée Allard
    • Dr. Warren Giberson
    • Dr. David Lemaire
    • Dr. Patricia MacCullum
    • Dr. Michael McNeil
    • Dr. Ronald Robichaud
  • Plastic surgery
    • Dr. Jason Dool
    • Dr. Brent Howley
    • Dr. Ali Husain
    • Dr. Susan Skanes

What can you expect when you arrive on the unit after your surgery? 

We hope that this information will answer many of your questions and help you to prepare yourself for your surgery, your hospital stay, and your return home.

While you are waiting to be operated on, we advise you to become familiar with the information on your surgery. We hope that it will help you to begin your stay with confidence.

A team of health professionals will be waiting for you and will support you throughout your stay.

  • Nurses
  • Licensed practical nurses
  • Discharge planning nurses
  • Physicians
  • Physiotherapists
  • Occupational therapists
  • Pharmacists
  • Social workers
  • Dietitians
  • Psychologists
  • Respiratory therapists
  • Speech-language pathologists

The care team wishes you a pleasant stay and a rapid recovery.

What happens next

  • A staff member will accompany you to your room. You will have to move from the stretcher to your bed (with help).
  • You will probably feel tired and sleepy. This is normal. Rest will help you to get better quickly.
  • When you are in your room, we will check your blood pressure, temperature, pulse, respiration and oxygen saturation. Do not be concerned. This is routine for all patients.     
                      
  • When you are wide awake, you will be encouraged to do breathing exercises every hour. You may be administered oxygen for a short period after your surgery. 
  • Then the nurse will assess you. She will check your dressings and your IV site (serum, IV). She will listen to your lungs and your intestinal noises.
  • The nurse will ask you about your pain level. The most efficient way to assess pain is on a scale of 0 to 10 where:
    • 0 means no pain;
    • 10 means the highest level of pain.
      Pain can be controlled in different ways. The pain control method chosen depends on the type of surgery, the anesthetist, and the surgeon. Do not hesitate to talk it over with your physician. It is recommended that you not wait too long before asking for pain medication because pain may become intense and hard to control.

  • After your surgery, as soon as you feel better, you should move your limbs to get rid of numbness and promote blood circulation; this is called circulatory exercise. There will be a poster on the wall to show you which exercises to do.
    Athrombic pumps (pneumatic machines used to activate circulation and prevent blood clots) may be installed on your legs or feet. Depending on your surgery, you may very well receive a medication to reduce the risks of a blood clot forming in your legs.
  • Every time you change position, use your hands and arms to help. You will feel less pain if you change position yourself instead of letting someone else move you.
  • As soon as possible, you should get up, walk a bit, sit up in a chair, and go to the toilet. Mobility is very important in order to prevent a number of complications after surgery, such as:
    • Blood clots in the legs;
    • Respiratory problems;
    • Constipation.
  • The first time you get up (about four to eight hours after your surgery), the care staff will help you.         
  • Depending on how you are, you will be encouraged to walk. Walking is the best way to prevent complications. A walking and exercise program will be given to you and explained.
  • Your physician will visit you the day of your surgery or the day after. This will be a good time to ask all your questions about your health condition.
  • Have someone bring you home when you are discharged. (You will be asked to leave before 11:00 a.m. that day.)
  • When you are discharged, the nurse and physician will give you all the information you need to make sure that you are all right at home. 

Going home

  • You will be given precise directions about your surgery and will have to follow them when you get home.
  • You will be given your prescriptions and the dates of your next appointments, if required.
  • Your physician or the staff can give you guidelines about driving.

Your surgeon may refer you to the Extra-Mural Program if you need to continue to receive certain types of care at home.

We hope you feel better soon.

Wait times

The New Brunswick Surgical Care Network provides general information on surgeries and wait times for operations at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre and other surgical centres in New Brunswick. On the Surgical Care Network site, you can find answers to the most common questions about wait times. The site also suggests a list of specific questions to ask your surgeon and includes a list of the specialties in each surgical centre in the province, along with the names of the surgeons providing these services.

If you do not have access to the New Brunswick Surgical Care Network site, contact the office of the Care Access Manager at 506-862-4493. Please have your Medicare number handy.

If you have to cancel your surgery, please call 506-862-4104.

New Brunswick Surgical Care Network


Health care team/specialties

The team consists of:

  • Anesthetists;
  • Surgeons;
  • Dietitians;
  • Occupational therapists;
  • Resource and clinical nurses;
  • Respiratory therapists;
  • Spiritual care workers;
  • Support staff;
  • Physiotherapists and physical therapist assistant;
  • Psychologists;
  • Enterostomal therapists;
  • nurses and licensed practical nurses;
  • nurse manager.

Surgical specialists

  • General, thoracic and vascular surgery
    • Dr. Sylvain Beausoleil
    • Dr. Michel Bourgoin
    • Dr. Tina Comeau
    • Dr. Robert Deslauriers
    • Dr. Lan Vinh Do
    • Dr. Jocelyne Hébert
    • Dr. Christelle Thériault
  • Urology
    • Dr. Luc Boudreau
    • Dr. Guy Breault
    • Dr. Marc Savoie
  • Gynecology
    • Dr. Karine Arsenault
    • Dr. Nathalie McLaughlin
    • Dr. Sylvie Nadeau
    • Dr. Alfred Robichaud
    • Dr. Polyanna Katsafourou
  • Gynecologic oncology
    • Dr. Réjean Savoie
    • Dr. Carole Williams
    • Dr. Robyn Comeau
  • Orthopedics
    • Dr. Germain Blando
    • Dr. Luc Bourque
    • Dr. Hervé David
    • Dr. Mark MacDonald
    • Dr. Michel-Alexandre LeBreton
  • Otorhinolaryngology
    • Dr. Marie-Josée Allard
    • Dr. Warren Giberson
    • Dr. David Lemaire
    • Dr. Patricia MacCullum
    • Dr. Michael McNeil
    • Dr. Ronald Robichaud
  • Plastic surgery
    • Dr. Jason Dool
    • Dr. Brent Howley
    • Dr. Ali Husain
    • Dr. Susan Skanes
  • Bariatric surgery
    • Dr. Sylvain Beausoleil
    • Dr. Christelle Thériault

Contact us

Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre
Telephone: 506-862-4000

Administrative Director of the Surgery Program
Sharon Smyth Okana
506-862-4562
sharon.smyth-okana [at] vitalitenb.ca

Medical Director of the Surgery Program
Dr. Jocelyne Hébert
506-862-7266
jocelyne.hebert [at] vitalitenb.ca

Manager of the Surgical Suite
Nicole Bourque
506-869-7280
506-862-4682
nicole.bourque2 [at] vitalitenb.ca

Manager of the Day Centre / Short Surgical Stay
Suzanne Bérubé
506-862-4138
506-862-4186
Suzanne Bérubé@vitalitenb.ca

Manager of the Pre-Admission Clinic 
Suzanne Bérubé
506-869-2836
506-862-4186
suzanne.berube [at] vitalitenb.ca

Manager of the Surgery Wait List
Joline Cormier
506-862-4493
joline.cormier [at] vitalitenb.ca

Manager of Post-Anesthesia
Suzanne Bérubé
506-862-4629
506-862-4186
suzanne.berube [at] vitalitenb.ca

Manager of Unit 4A (general surgery, urology, gynecology)
Micheline Doucette
506-862-4287
506-862-4809
micheline.doucette [at] vitalitenb.ca

Manager of Unit 4E (orthopedics, plastic surgery, ENT)
Natasha Poirier
506-862-4073
506-862-4805
natasha.poirier [at] vitalitenb.ca

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