The Anaesthetic Process
Anaesthesia is essential for all surgery. Our job is to facilitate pain free surgery and to ensure the safety of the patient before, during and after the surgery. All Anaesthetists in Australia and New Zealand are Medical Specialists.
Commencing anaesthesia takes anywhere from ten minutes to an hour or more, to make sure the patient is safe and adequately anaesthetised before surgery begins. The anaesthetic modality may be any one or a mixture of general anaesthesia, sedation, local anaesthesia or "regional anaesthesia" - where individual nerves or parts of the body are anaesthetised specifically. The anaesthetist remains present during surgery to ensure the patient's stability and comfort.
Once the surgery is finished, patients are transferred to the Recovery Room (PACU) and further monitored to ensure they are remaining stable. Patients will usually spend an hour in the PACU area prior to being returned to the ward.
Anaesthesia Assessment
Anaesthetic Assessment Clinics are held at Greenlane Clinical Centre.
All patients attending the clinic will have an opportunity to talk to, and be assessed by an anaesthetist prior to having an anaesthetic.
We have endeavoured to make this process as user-friendly and useful as possible for our elective patients. To this end we have set up an Anaesthetic Assessment Clinic that provides anaesthetic risk assessment and patient education for all our elective surgical patients. Patients can be seen well ahead of surgery, allowing them to think about questions they wish to ask and have an opportunity to speak with a professional for as long as necessary.
Epidural Information
Labour and Delivery Epidural information lectures are held at Auckland City Hospital. See below for further information and booking details.
The Anaesthetic Allergy Testing Clinic
The anaesthetic allergy testing clinic will assess people in whom there is a clinical suspicion of an allergic reaction to an agent administered in the peri-operative period.