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Show Your Doctor Says ... The following is one of a series of Article written by members of the Utah State Medical Association and published in cooperation with your local lo-cal newspaper. These articles are scheduled to appear every other week throunhout the year in an effort to tetter acquaint you with problems of health, and designed to improve the well being o the people of Utah. Tm PATIENT'S CARE AFTER SURGERY A better understanding of postoperative post-operative cr alter surgical can" by patients will ccrtainiy minimize min-imize tne fears of surgery which are usually based on misconception. misconcep-tion. A patient prepared adequately ade-quately from a mental standpoint aids m an earlier recovery and convalescence. After surgery care can be. divided di-vided very conveniently into three stages or periods. Alter the dressing is applied to the wound one might say that the after care of the surgical patient begins. This immediate period is one of the most important and critical. The modern hospital of today is equipped with operation recovery re-covery wards whirh are staffed by nurse and anesthesia specialists special-ists in the care of the immediate post operation patient, ttccnusc most major operations are performed per-formed under general or gas anesthesia, it is essential that the patient he observed by trained personnel until all reactions such as couch, swallowing, etc. have returned to normal. It is during this phase of recovery, re-covery, which may last for several sev-eral hours, that the pulse and blood pressure arc recorded every fifteen to twenty minutes in order to rMect shock and hem-orrhnRe. hem-orrhnRe. The impression most ueople have regarding 'iOd transfusions is that they spell disaster. dis-aster. This is erroneous because they are given to prevent disaster. dis-aster. The giving of blood transfusions trans-fusions during major oprratmns is a routine procedure to;i,iv. T!ns replaces Mood Iom and rests the heart and luncs during prolored kurgical procedures. Al l, the use of oxygen docs r.ot spell disaster but it is given to restore normal function of th heart end lung. This Immediate stage post- operative is an observation and recovery period for the patient and anxious relatives should not be fearful because the patient has not been returned immediately to his or her hospital room following follow-ing surgical operations. The next period or phase in the after tuery care begins when the patient is returned to the room. This period on the average lasts from twenty-four to torty-eight hours and consists of replacement of body water and salts. Since these cannot usually be taken by mouth because of nausea and vomiting, th'y are administered intravenoLjiy and the average adult will require nearly three . quarts of fluids daily in order to prevent dehydration dehy-dration and maintain normal kidney kid-ney function. A common complaint com-plaint during this period of recovery re-covery by patients having had stomach surgery is the discomfort produced by the tube through the nose that drains the stomach. It is necessary the first several days in order to prevent stomach distention dis-tention and allow the opciation on the stomach to heal. Early ambulation is usually begun be-gun during this period. This means getting the patient out of bed as soon as possible usually in the first twenty-four to forty-eight forty-eight hours, with the patient instructed in-structed to actively walk. The walking time is increased daily. During these periods the patient is instructed to breath deeply to prevent lung complications. The walking and leg movements performed' per-formed' while in bed speed up the circulation which lersens the formation of dangerous blood clots and Improves circulation in general. Other advantages of carlv walking include improved urinary bladder and bowel function func-tion with lowered incidence of vomiting, distention, gas pains, and constipation. The use of the uncomfortable bed nans has certainly cer-tainly been minimized by these method. The final period of after surgery sur-gery care is the hospital convalescence conval-escence stage. This has been materially ma-terially shortened so that the surgical patient's time of hospital stay will be on the average of a week. This has helped relieve the shortage of hospital beds throughout the country. It is because of thee advances, that the rifk involved in any sur gical procedure has been extreme ly small. A knowledge of what to expect when one undergoes sur gory will certainly help to div card one's "fear of the knife". (DaiEBft Cfediaa eater? dm (Manse .rrN OPEN FOR THESE 3 SALE DAYS O WED., THURS., FRI. & SAT., APRIL I 4 , 0 A. M. TO 10 P. M. SSLE'of trade-ins ll riiMnrin' . 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