Agreements about the specific modalities of your intervention

In principle, your hospitalization and the intervention that must be performed will be personally agreed with you and explained by Dr. Van Haesendonck. This implies the importance of the consultation you have with the doctor. Even if you think you have a fairly accurate picture of what your treatment entails, the discussion with the doctor is usually useful because it can highlight aspects that you may not have thought about yourself. Misunderstandings and needless anxiety are avoided in this way.  

The timing of surgery and hospitalization is always communicated to the hospital by the doctor. It is better not to take any action in this area yourself to avoid confusion, double booking, etc.... It is important that you are present at the hospital at the agreed time. If unforeseen circumstances prevent your admission to hospital, please inform the admission planner.

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What should you bring with you to the hospital?

For the recording service:
•   your identity card

•   information from mutuality and/or insurance

For the nursing ward:
•   toiletries, nightclothes, underwear, dressing gown and slippers (not for day hospitals)
•   blood group card if you have one
•   the completed anesthesia questionnaire (if general anaesthetic)
•   the completed medication list (if applicable)
•   your home medication (if possible in the original packaging)
•   the referral letter from the general practitioner or the attending physician
•   possibly research results
•   antithrombotic stockings (if you already have them from a previous admission)
•   the phone number of a person we can reach during your stay
•   a list of allergies

Other tips:
•   Please do not bring any valuables, leave jewelry at home
•   Remove nail polish and do not wear make-up
•   Take a shower or bath the night before surgery
•   If you have problems completing the questionnaire and/or medication list, you can contact your GP.

Preparing for your hospitalization and surgery
Your age, your general health, the chronic medication you may be taking, any allergies, the treatment we have in mind,... Various factors influence what is concretely agreed regarding hospitalization and surgery. Together with your general practitioner and the anesthetist (if it concerns a procedure under general anaesthesia), we take these factors into account and, if necessary, we will have preliminary examinations carried out.
As a general principle, preliminary examinations should always be completed on the day of hospitalization. When you are admitted for a procedure under general anaesthetic, you will almost always have to be sober at the time of admission. In concrete terms, this means that you must not eat or drink anything before the anaesthetic - not even a glass of water! In practice, this means that you usually have to fast from midnight before the admission. This is really important: if the stomach is not empty, this can lead to serious complications during anesthesia. Necessary medication may still be taken in the morning with a small sip of water.  

The typical course of your hospital stay
An hour of hospitalization was agreed in the planning. The agreed time of admission has nothing to do with the time at which your procedure will take place. After all, at the time of planning your operation, Dr. Van Haesendonck's entire surgery program for that day is probably not yet known. It is therefore not the case that you can "claim" a time of operation or that the order depends on a "first come, first serve" principle. Several factors together determine the order of an operation program (age of the different patients in the day program, order of operation types, availability of instruments, availability of personnel, beds on the ward...etc.). After registration in the hospital's admissions service, you will be taken to your room, where you will be welcomed by a nurse from your ward who will guide you and go through the necessary practical formalities with you. Then you have to wait until it is your turn.

After your operation, you will be taken to the recovery room, where specialized nurses and the anesthetist will monitor you during the first awakening, administer the first pain medication... They decide together when you are sufficiently "clear" to be allowed to return to your room where after all, you are under less supervision. dr. Van Haesendonck will certainly explain to you later in the day how the operation went and how to proceed. With day hospitalization you will be discharged the same day before 6 pm. With some procedures it is important that you remain under the supervision of a doctor and nurses for the next 24 hours (or longer) so that you are not discharged until the next day. Before you actually go home again, all forms (incapacity for work, health insurance, insurance) must be completed, the medication to be followed and the next check-up have been agreed. dr. After discharge, Van Haesendonck will inform your general practitioner in writing of the operation and hospitalization progress.  

A general anesthetic and the preparation for it 
Most ENT procedures are performed under general anesthesia or anaesthesia. The anesthetist watches over your bodily functions during this anaesthetic, he/she is specialized in this and will be able to fulfill this task optimally if all risk factors are correctly estimated in advance. To this end, the hospital's anesthesia department uses a standard questionnaire, which you probably already received from Dr. Van Haesendonck.  

The administrative formalities
During your stay in the hospital, Dr. Van Haesendonck will provide you with the necessary papers and fill them in that are required in this context. If you have specific forms to fill in, it is useful to bring these with you when you are admitted. The incapacity for work depends on your illness and type of surgery, but also on the type of work you do and the course of your recovery. Remember to also bring the forms from your health insurance fund that are intended for a medical examiner and that, among other things. must serve to inform the health insurance fund of the starting date and the nature of your illness. Certainly for employees with a labor contract (who have a weekly wage guaranteed by the employer) it is important to send this completed form within one week after the start of illness. White-collar workers usually have a guaranteed monthly wage, so this term is less critical here. Supplementary and hospitalization insurance policies usually use their own forms and/or electronic means of communication. If you already have the appropriate forms in your possession, it is useful to bring these with you when you are admitted, but they can also be arranged later.

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Follow-up after dismissal
You have been given an appointment for a check-up with Dr. Van Haesendonck at the time of your discharge. In the case of day hospitalization, you will usually be asked to arrange this check-up yourself by telephone or online. It is evident that the surgeon will explain to you at the time of discharge what the normal symptoms are in the first days after your operation, and which symptoms are alarming. However, not every question that arises afterwards can be foreseen. Therefore do not hesitate to contact the hospital telephone number (015/891010). You can always reach a secretary (or nurse from the emergency department) who can put you through to him or have him contact you quickly. There is also - 24/24, 7/7 - an on-call ENT doctor who can be called via the emergency service of the Sint Maarten Hospital. Even with normal postoperative progress, your condition should be followed up with consultation(s) by Dr. Van Haesendonck himself, who knows the details of your operation best. Afterwards, the follow-up can be done by the general practitioner or referring specialist. After discharge, Dr Van Haesendonck will inform your general practitioner in writing about the course of the operation and hospitalization.