Preparing for Heart Surgery

Preparing for hospital admission

Your doctor may instruct you not to eat or drink anything for a time period before your surgery. You must have an empty stomach going into surgery. Remember to bring all your regular medications to the hospital, even those that you were instructed to discontinue before surgery. You’ll be more comfortable if you remember to bring a lightweight robe, a nightshirt, slippers with nonskid soles, toiletries, glasses, etc.⁴

The admitting nurse will take you to your room and familiarize you with the hospital surroundings. There are numerous forms you will sign upon admission. The details may vary slightly from one hospital to the next, but certain forms are standard. To verify information about your health that you have already provided, the nurse and admitting staff may ask you several questions that you’ve probably answered before.^{4, 5} 

Identify a point of contact ⁴

Make sure identify a point of contact to make medical decisions on your behalf and help relay your results to family members and friends. This person should also understand your sternal precautions and activity limitations to help you with your recovery at home. Sternal Precautions are preventative guidelines provided by your surgeon to protect the breastbone and reduce complications during the recovery process.

Before surgery, be sure to consider the support system you have at home. You will benefit greatly if you have some assistance for the first several weeks with cooking, bathing, housekeeping, errands, etc.

The hospital discharge planner, occupational therapist, and social worker can help you explore all your options for having assistance at home. You might discuss a home healthcare professional, visiting nurse, or other help. If an adequate support system at home is not available, you may want to consider going to a rehabilitation facility or nursing home during recovery.

After you are admitted to the hospital, you will be prepped for surgery. Using a needle, a small intravenous (IV) tube will be inserted into a vein in your arm. The tube will be used to administer antibiotics, pain medication, and fluids during and after your surgery. About an hour before the operation, your anesthesiologist will talk with you about the type of anesthesia you will receive. You may be lightly sedated before being taken to the operating room. ⁵

Be aware that the operating room can be a bright, cold, busy and loud place. A nurse will verify your identity and knowledge of the operation. Once the anesthesia takes effect, your surgical site will be sterilized.

During open-heart surgery, the surgeon will access your heart by creating a vertical cut down the center of your chest. In order to get to the heart, the surgeon will saw through the breastbone, also called the sternum. After both of those openings are made, the surgeons will proceed with the heart operation.⁵ Open heart surgery can take approximately three to six hours depending on the complexity of the procedure.⁶

Once the operation is complete, the surgeon will close your breastbone (sternum) with either wires or a rigid fixation system of plates and screws, such as SternaLock Blu. Learn how your bone heals.